WATCH Tory MP Ben Bradley: I cocked up with vasectomies post
2 min read
Conservative MP Ben Bradley has said he “cocked it up” when he wrote that unemployed people should get vasectomies.
The newly appointed Tory vice chair issued an apology video to constituents in which he explained how the blog was “deliberately provocative” but he now wanted to “draw a line under it”.
It was one of a string of offensive posts that were uncovered by BuzzFeed News last week.
Among others was a blog telling public sector workers they should be grateful, another backing police brutality, and a tweet saying officers would play “splat the chav” with water cannons during the 2011 riots.
Today Mr Bradley said he wrote the controversial articles while he was a “student with no real responsibilities”.
“People say ‘politicians aren’t like me; they aren’t normal people’ but normal people cock things up,” the Mansfield MP said in a video posted to his Facebook page today.
“[For] my generation and younger, chances are they have cocked it up. I’ve cocked it up online for all to see.”
On the post about the unemployed getting vasectomies Mr Bradley said he was trying to express how he found it “frustrating when a small minority of people appear to take advantage of the benefits system”.
He said measures such as the benefits cap had countered abuse, but noted that “language aside” he still stood by his “broad point”.
He added: “Clearly I’ve grown up over the course of the last seven years. I wouldn’t express myself in that way now. But I can’t unsay it. I can’t pretend I didn’t write it.
“So all I can really do is draw a line under it and now try to prove to people in Mansfield that I am working hard for the community.”
In his blog Mr Bradley had said the UK would be "drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters" unless those out of work limited the number of children they have.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister last week confirmed he would not lose his paid party post as vice chair for youth, which he was only appointed to this month.
"Clearly Mr Bradley has apologised for those comments," the spokesman said. "The Prime Minister thinks it is right he did so.”
The spokesperson added: “I would just note that I think he was 22 at the time he made them and has himself said that he believes his career in politics has demonstrated to him why those views are wrong and he's apologised for them.”
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