Sit in the corner if you want to breastfeed, says Farage
Avoid being ostentatious, Ukip leader tells mothers
MOTHERS should avoid being ‘openly ostentatious’ when breastfeeding in public and be willing to ‘sit in the corner’ in restaurants, Nigel Farage said yesterday.
The Ukip leader said it was ‘just a question of good manners’ and claimed the older generation ‘ feel awkward and embarrassed’ by the practice.
His comments were widely criticised and David Cameron said it was ‘totally unacceptable’ to make mothers feel uncomfortable.
Mr Farage waded into the controversy after a mother this week complained that she was asked to cover her baby’s head while breastfeeding at London hotel Claridge’s.
Speaking during his LBC radio phone-in, the Ukip leader said: ‘I am not particularly bothered about it, but I know a lot of people do feel very uncomfortable.
‘This is just a matter of common sense, isn’t it? Given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isn’t too difficult to breast feed a baby in a way that is not openly ostentatious.’
Asked whether it would right to ask mothers to use the ‘ ladies’ room’ to feed, he added: ‘ Or perhaps sit in the corner, or whatever it might be. That is up to Claridge’s.
‘It’s not an issue I get terribly hung up about but I know particularly people of the older generation feel awkward and embarrassed by it.’
After his comments prompted criticism, Mr Farage issued a statement to clarify his position, in which he said: ‘I personally have no problem with mothers breastfeeding wherever they want.’
He added: ‘Most mums will recog- nise the need to be discreet in certain, limited, circumstances. It is just a question of good manners.’
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister shares the view of the NHS, which is that breastfeeding is completely natural and it’s totally unacceptable for any women to be made to feel uncomfortable when breast-feeding in public.’
A Labour spokesman called for the Ukip leader to ‘grow up’. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper added on Twitter: ‘After “that” interview, Nigel Farage should sit in a corner!’ The debate started after Lou Burns, 35, was given an oversized napkin to use as a cover as she breastfed 12-week- old daughter Isadora at Claridge’s on Monday.
Mrs Burns, who said she was humiliated and left in tears by the incident, said last night: ‘ To ask someone to sit in the corner is really unacceptable.
‘I do not know why breastfeeding and bad manners are being tied together. If someone is offended they can look away – they do not have to look.’