Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
25 November 2010updated 27 Sep 2015 2:06am

Tory peer: benefits encourage the poor to “breed“

Downing Street quick to distance itself from new Conservative peer's remarks.

By Samira Shackle

Oh dear. Another week, another Tory speaking out of turn.

This time it was Howard Flight — who became a Tory peer just last week. He told the Evening Standard:

We’re going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it’s jolly expensive. But for those on benefits, there is every incentive. Well, that’s not very sensible.

It’s not the first time that Flight, formerly an MP, has spoken out of turn. In 2005, he was removed as a candidate after he told a meeting of Conservative Way Forward that if elected, the party would make more spending cuts than they had promised in the campaign.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday - from the New Statesman. The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Downing Street was quick to distance itself from the remarks, pointing out that he is not a member of the government and saying: “Clearly we do not agree with those remarks”.

Content from our partners
It’s time to reimagine the lifecycle of our devices
On the road to Cop28
How are new rail networks boosting the economy?