Andrea Ledsom's reasoning for withdrawing from her leadership challenge was?
We need to get a new leader in place as soon as possible
Well why the heck bother to put yourself forward in the first place then?
The reason I read was because of the flack she got for the 'I'm a mother, she's not' comment. If she breaks under that strain she's better off at home knitting and feeding the kids...
Yeah: her "official" reason is clearly nonsense. Laura Kuenssberg has said that Leadsom simply hadn't appreciated just how much scrutiny she'd be put under, and when she finally did, she realised it wasn't something she was prepared to put up with.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36766525
Personally, I put down to a fatal combination of inexperience and hubris: the latter preventing her from recognizing the former. IMO the whole "but I have children! " fiasco was just the final straw. Before that, I saw her being interviewed over the porkies she's told about her "business experience", and it was pure car-crash telly. The interviewer was nowhere near "Paxman" level but Leadsom floundered badly. It was embarrassing to watch, and would have been funny if she hadn't been running for the job of Prime Minister.
The more I've seen of her, the more obvious it's become that she's simply not up to the job. If you agree with Gove that Boris Johnson doesn't have the abilities required to lead the country through Brexit (and I personally think he's right), then you have to suspect that Leadsom is mildly delusional to think that she has those abilities instead!