Tory MP apologises for suggesting free sterilisation for unemployed
Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Youth is ‘textbook example of how bloggers should think twice’
A Tory MP is in hot water after old blog posts were unearthed in which he suggested sterilising the unemployed and declared that public sector workers “don’t know they’re born”.
Ben Bradley, 28, appointed Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Youth last week, “is turning into a textbook example of how provocative bloggers should think twice before venturing on a career in politics - or at least work out how to erase their internet history”, says The Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow.
Bradley, 28, apologised today over a 2012 blog entry, uncovered by BuzzFeed News, in which he suggests the unemployed should have vasectomies rather than father children they could not afford.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Vasectomies are free,” he wrote. “Families who have never worked a day in their lives having 4 or 5 kids and the rest of us having 1 or 2 means it’s not long before we’re drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!”
In a statement apologising for the blog post, which has been deleted, Bradley said: “My time in politics has allowed me to mature and I now realise that this language is not appropriate.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Biggest political break-ups and make-ups of 2025The Explainer From Trump and Musk to the UK and the EU, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a round-up of the year’s relationship drama
-
Why 2025 was a pivotal year for AITalking Point The ‘hype’ and ‘hopes’ around artificial intelligence are ‘like nothing the world has seen before’
-
The best drama TV series of 2025the week recommends From the horrors of death to the hive-mind apocalypse, TV is far from out of great ideas
-
The MAGA civil war takes center stage at the Turning Point USA conferenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT ‘Americafest 2025’ was a who’s who of right-wing heavyweights eager to settle scores and lay claim to the future of MAGA
-
Is a Reform-Tory pact becoming more likely?Today’s Big Question Nigel Farage’s party is ahead in the polls but still falls well short of a Commons majority, while Conservatives are still losing MPs to Reform
-
What does the fall in net migration mean for the UK?Today’s Big Question With Labour and the Tories trying to ‘claim credit’ for lower figures, the ‘underlying picture is far less clear-cut’
-
Five takeaways from Plaid Cymru’s historic Caerphilly by-election winThe Explainer The ‘big beasts’ were ‘humbled’ but there was disappointment for second-placed Reform too
-
The new age of book banningThe Explainer How America’s culture wars collided with parents and legislators who want to keep their kids away from ‘dangerous’ ideas
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Five policies from the Tory conferenceIn Depth Party leader Kemi Badenoch has laid out the Conservative plan for a potential future government
-
Charlie Kirk honored as ‘martyr’ at memorial rallySpeed Read At a service for the slain conservative activist, speakers included President Donald Trump and many top administration officials