A Tory MP who suggested benefit claimants should have vasectomies will keep his new job as a party vice chairman, according to No 10 sources.
Ben Bradley, who was promoted in Theresa May’s recent reshuffle, said people on welfare should stop having children if they could not afford them, before suggesting sterilisation.
The Mansfield MP, 28, was writing in support of the benefits cap and suggested it would not be long “before we’re drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters”.
Tory MP Ben Bradley will keep his job as a party vice chairman despite making offensive comments on social media
Mr Bradley, the Conservative vice chairman for youth, will hang on to the job after apologising for the comments.
A No 10 source said: “Mr Bradley has apologised for those comments. The PM thinks it is right that he did so.
“I think he was 22 at the time he made them and has, himself, said he believes his work and the start of his career in politics has demonstrated to him why those views are wrong.”
Asked if he would keep his job, the source replied: “Yes.”
After the post on the personal blog, consbradders32, was highlighted by BuzzFeed News, it was deleted.
“Sorry but how many children you have is a choice; if you can’t afford them, stop having them! Vasectomies are free,” it read.
“Families who have never worked a day in their lives having four or five kids and the rest of us having one or two means it’s not long before we’re drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!”
Mr Bradley said he had matured since posting the blog in 2012 and was sorry for the comments.
“I apologise for these posts. My time in politics has allowed me to mature and I now realise that this language is not appropriate,” he said.
Labour, which recently suspended MP Jared O’Mara following offensive blog posts, refused to say if Mr Bradley should be sacked.
A spokesman for leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “Those remarks are clearly shocking and reprehensible and reflect the nature of a lot of Tory party thinking.”