I’ve got a confession. It involves a mum crush, but not on a CBeebies TV presenter or someone of the opposite sex who used to be in a boy band (although I *might* have one or two of those too!)
The latest individual to catch my sleep-deprived eye is the MP Stella Creasy, who has had her wrist slapped for taking her three-month-old baby into the House of Commons for a debate with her.
Apparently, MPs can take a baby with them to vote, but not into Parliamentary debates – even though half of the grown-ups in there are far noisier, more immature and much more disruptive than a sleeping newborn.
And I say wrist, but what actually happened is that she got a no-nonsense email telling her children aren’t allowed in Westminster Hall. Which has sparked what tabloid journalist me can only describe as a mega debate, and one I’m quite happy to wade in on too.
Why I’ve got a mum crush on MP Stella Creasy!
Unsurprisingly it didn’t take long for the news that Ms Creasy had been told off for taking her baby to work with her to break.
Some of the backlash I’ve seen on social media is startling, from some saying the Commons ‘is not a free creche’ or a ‘yummy mummy coffee morning’ to ‘you wouldn’t see a bus driver with a baby on their lap, or a nurse with a baby strapped to their chest’. No, no you wouldn’t. Because bus drivers and nurses and pretty much everyone else on the planet get proper maternity leave, but Ms Creasy has a job to do and didn’t have any maternity cover.
The issue isn’t about whether she should be allowed to take her baby to work with her or not, it’s about the fact that childcare is a working parent’s nightmare and there’s got to be some degree of flexibility. What’s she supposed to do? Say she’s got to stay at home because she’s a mum now?
Then – as if it couldn’t get any worse – Ms Creasy was called out for taking her baby son to a ‘late-night awards show’ with her, when all that really happend is that he was sleeping in her arms at 10.45pm in the evening. Which is what babies do.
But what I absolutely love about the whole hoo-hah is that Ms Creasy has publicly called the powers that be and silly headline writers out on all of it. This is one response on her Instagram feed, and it pretty much sums up why I’ve got a mum crush on her.
She has even appeared on ITV’s Lorraine saying she might take her baby boy with her again to the Commons next week. And I’ll be honest: I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.
At a time when Victorian rules like that still exist in Parliament, yet there is still no rule on mask-wearing, we need more Stella Creasys in the world.
What do you think? Have you been following the Stella Creasy story? I’d love to hear your point of view!
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