Jo Swinson

Of course she can do this job as long as the children have good care and she spends time with them regularly.
I can’t believe anyone would think a woman can’t work and have small children
Many women have to work to pay the bills.

Would you ask this of a male politician? If not why ask if a female one? Times are changing and I am glad.

crystaltipps
Well done to your MP for taking her baby with her! ?
Yggdrasil
‘And on an MP’s salary, Jo Swinson can afford full time care for her children.’
- That’s my point - why did she bother having children when she’s actually more interested in her career?! I would have more respect for her if she waited to be leader when her children were older.
I chose to be at home with my children - even though we were hard up for a few years. It worked for us. If my husband had lost his job I would have gone back to work. Childminding is expensive anyway - it cancels out a large proportion of a second wage.

there are loads of women who have high profile jobs with kids, Holly Willoughby to other female politicians. If women did stay at home to raise their families then where would be the talent to make the world a better place? I looked after mine but was self employed so could work around them. As long as there is a good support network in place then this can be a win win situation.

Probably for the best Poppy - that’s exactly where outdated, sexist views like that belong.

If anyone has spent more time on the job than at home,it must be Lorraine kelly! Nice as she seems,i feel her family mustnt really know her.

I find your post very sexist
You wouldn't say that if she was a male candidate
You can love your children and have a career too

Sorry but little children need their mums. Plain and simple. I’m going back under my rock now. ??

Galaxy both Blair and Obama were men doing the traditional work She is a mother who is working in equal footing with men but traditional ideas think that women rear their children whilst the man works. It’s a hard view to overcome !

Men seem to manage a family life whilst living in Number 10. Why should a woman be any different?

Callistemon I'm a paid up LibDem member (very much on the left wing of the party) and I have my doubts about Jo Swinson. However, my doubts are based on her voting record and naivety on strategy. I looked into the story about her husband ages ago and came to the same conclusion as the BBC factcheck. I really hate these unsubstantiated smears which go viral within hours (on all sides).

I've voted LibDem all my adult life, apart from the 2015 GE, when I voted Labour. In all that time, I have never been on the winning side, apart from a few local elections. Nevertheless, I've voted with my conscience and, on the whole, the LibDems have been closest to my values. I would vote Labour in this election, if tactical voting would make any difference in my constituency.

At a local level, the LibDems have by far the hardest working councillors, who do actually try to put the needs of the community as a whole before partisan interests. Some of the local Greens, Labour and one Conservative (but not the rest) also work hard and genuinely care. Unfortunately, at national level, this constituency continues to vote tribally.

As for Jo Swinson … I'm not 100% sure about her. She's been thrust into what could have been a decisive role at a critical time and I don't think she's had time to grow into it. When history judges this year, I have no doubt that her inexperience will be one of the many factors mentioned in the path the UK is about to follow.

I have to agree with MawB that the question of being away from home and children never seems to be posed to men as it is with women.

It may be that the answer to that question does lay within women themselves in the way they "push themselves forward." In that, whenever our company have positions that require an employee to spend time away from home it is all too often that existing male employees will apply for the advancement even when they have a family. Existing women employees tend to wish to remain within the office where they have stable hours that enables good family care.

As a man, I have in recent times asked myself why the above situation should be when there are two parents in the family, but it is not a situation that any employer can resolve.

I never wanted to be in the home and I wasnt. Worked full time from my twenties until my seventies, was married and had three children.

And would you say the same to her husband? Or any husband come to that?

From the BBC link:

Nye Bevan News

On 4 October a Facebook page and website called Nye Bevan News, which describes itself as "pro-proletariat" and "anti-establishment", posted its version of the story.

This time it included clearly inaccurate statements: that Mr Hames "owns" Transparency International and that the organisation is a "family company."

The editor of the page is Ben Jenkins, a 34-year-old originally from South Wales who works in a bar in London.

Mr Jenkins' page often shares positive posts praising "Old Labour" figures like Tony Benn and Nye Bevan. It also frequently criticises "New Labour" figures like Tony Blair and his former communications chief Alastair Campbell, who is now a backer of staying in the EU.

Image copyright FACEBOOK Post from "Nye Bevan News" with headline "Swinson fails to declare family company was given 3.5m euro"
When he met BBC reporters, Mr Jenkins denied that he set out to be misleading, but described the wording of his post about Swinson as "spin".

"We're all Alastair Campbell's illegitimate children," Mr Jenkins said, referring to Campbell's stint as the No 10 communications chief and the frequent description of him as a "spin doctor".

"He taught us how to do this and he can deal with the consequences."

Mr Jenkins said his page enlists a number of volunteer moderators. No money changes hands, he said, but his popular page - it has more than 113,000 likes - shares their posts.

"They get traffic, I get content," he said.

I didn’t know whether she was married, had children, whatever.As leader of a political party, she’s got to be out there. We would criticise if she was seen at a children’s carol concert or something instead of canvassing. You can’t have it all ways, even nowadays. A woman’s place is no longer in just the home, but sometimes those far off days seemed preferable I suppose.

It was on Nye Bevan News the other day.

Oh dear, fake news.

I agree with your last sentence Luckygirl. She could do with paying a visit to an image consultant.

I was talking to a 17 year old a couple of days ago. Obviously, she can't vote in this election, but she follows politics very closely. Her impression was that it all seems so childish. She said it's quite difficult to find out what anybody stands for because it's all blaming the other side and "he said … she said". I couldn't help feeling that there was an awful lot of sense coming out of a 17 year old head.

No, never seen it before.

Oh dear are you sure, growstuff?

And I voted for her too!!
Held my nose and did so as our local candidate is impressive even if I am less than impressed by Ms S.

Blimey, we've been over the 'Jo Swinson's husband makes a fortune from EU money' story before, in some detail. With rebuttals and proof that it is false. Did you not see it then, Callistomen?

I'm afraid you've just jumped on the spreading fake news bandwagon Callistemon.

I do not think that a woman should be criticised for her choices about family/career. I personally would not want to have missed out on the early years at home with my little ones - but that is MY choice and not relevant to anyone else's.

Having said all that I do think Swinson is a bit of a wet fish and has done the Lib Dems no favours.

How can anyone even consider voting for a party whose prime policy is to ignore democracy??

Anyone interested in reading an unbiased account of the story about Jo Swinson’s husband can view it here www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-50160148