FAILED Tory leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom may have signed her own resignation letter as a minister just hours after taking on the role of Environment Secretary after she warned that male nannies could be paedophiles.

Ms Leadsom, who quit the Tory run-off after saying in a Times interview that she would make a better leader than Theresa May because she was a mother, insisted parents needed to be cautious when dealing with childcare.

In a further extract from the interview, published yesterday, she is quoted as saying: “Let’s face it, most of us don’t employ men as nannies. Most of us don’t. Now you can call that sexist. I call that cautious and very sensible, when you look at the stats.

“Your odds are stacked against you if you employ a man. We know paedophiles are attracted to working with children. I’m sorry, but they’re the facts,” Ms Leadsom told the Times, which she accused of “gutter journalism” this week.

This interview, conducted last week when Ms Leadsom was still a contender for the leadership, is widely believed to have sunk her campaign.

The minister, who faced accusations during the brief but bitter Tory leadership contest that she had embellished her CV, also raised concern about rules stopping parents asking nannies whether they planned to have children of their own.

Labour shadow minister Jon Ashworth said: “This is an extraordinarily offensive statement from the new Environment Secretary.

“Andrea Leadsom should apologise immediately and the Prime Minister should also distance herself from these comments.”

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron went further, branding Ms Leadsom’s comments “stupid” and “ignorant” and called for her to be sacked.

He said: “Andrea Leadsom has let yet another of her masks slip. I have to admire the Times. Journalists are there to hold politicians to account and this interview was clearly a masterclass in doing just that.

“These remarks are stupid, ignorant and not ones any minister should be making. Theresa May has shown she is willing to relieve ministers of their duties and she must do so again now.”