Live updates: Leadsom motherhood row

Amber Rudd, Andrea Leadsom's boss, has told GMB that it is "too soon" for the junior energy minister to be prime minister.

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who is supporting Home Secretary Theresa May's bid for leader of the Conservative party, said her colleague is "good at her job...but to suggest that she is ready for prime minister now, I think is too soon."

"To be prime minister you need to have real leadership, real experience, and a vision for the future," she added.

Speaking about Leadsom's apology over remarks she made about motherhood to The Times, Rudd said her colleague is an "honourable person and I think that she misjudged it ... she made the reference also to Theresa May, which I think was her mistake."

• Theresa May supporter: Move on from 'motherhood' remarks

Iain Duncan Smith, who is backing Leadsom for prime minister, told the programme that the past week has seen "whispering campaign" against the candidate, which he described as "the most remarkable almost unprecedented attempt to cast Andrea Leadsom in the most ridiculous ways."

Smith said that Leadsom was "angry and mortified" by The Times interview and said that her apology was "heartfelt."

He added that the South Northamptonshire MP's "sole purpose in life is to destroy Ukip by getting the Conservative Party in the right place over the vote to leave."

• Andrea Leadsom's apology to Theresa May over motherhood remarks

Tory MP supporters for rival leadership candidates Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom have responded to Leadsom's apology over remarks she made about motherhood, with a backer for May telling GMB it is "time to move on."

Grant Shapps, who is supporting May's bid to be the new prime minister, said that he doubted the Home Secretary "has spent very much time at all" on Leadsom's comments and said that "we shouldn't either."

John Redwood defended Leadsom's comments to The Times, saying that the junior energy minister had been "drawn onto this subject" of motherhood by the paper's journalist, Rachel Sylvester.

• Andrea Leadsom's apology to Theresa May over motherhood remarks

Andrea Leadsom, a candidate in the Tory leadership election, has said sorry to her rival Theresa May in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

Speaking to the paper, she said: "Having children has no bearing on the ability to be PM. I deeply regret that anyone has got the impression that I think otherwise.

"I've already said to Theresa how very sorry I am for any hurt I have caused and how that article said completely the opposite of what I said and believe."

Her apology in the paper comes after former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith appeared on ITV's Peston on Sunday, saying Mrs Leadsom had been "stitched-up" during the interview.

Andrea Leadsom's controversial motherhood comments were not "malicious" they were "naive", Baroness Warsi has said.

The Conservative peer described the comments as a "slip of the tongue", shown by the way in which she immediately asked for the comments not to be printed.

Baroness Warsi added she did not want debates about motherhood and the roles of women to come back into politics.

Andrea Leadsom does not have the "experience" to be prime minister, David Davis has said.

The Conservative MP said that the junior minister was "leaping to the most difficult job in government at the most difficult point in our history".

The former Tory leadership candidate added that it was not through "intelligence" or a "lack of goodwill" that he thought Ms Leadsom was not suitable for the top job, it was simply due to a lack of "experience".

Andrea Leadsom made it "absolutely clear" that references she made to her children in an interview with The Times were not to be used in a "derogatory" way towards Theresa May, her campaign manager has said.

Tim Loughton, Conservative MP East Worthing and Shoreham, defended the Tory leadership candidate's comments and said her children were "the thing that really fires her up", and asked "when has it been a crime to be proud about your children?".

Mr Loughton also questioned whether the debate on children would be an issue if the two candidates were male.

Mr Loughton added that South Northamptonshire MP was a "fresh face" who had "much more experience outside of politics than all the other candidates put together".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticised Andrea Leadsom's controversial motherhood comments about Theresa May.

"She [Leadsom] shouldn't be raising it as a way of criticism, it shouldn't raised as a matter of public debate," he said in an interview with ITV News.

"A man would never be asked those questions - why should a woman be asked those questions?"

David Cameron has declined to comment on a row engulfing his party after his would-be replacement Andrea Leadsom suggested that being a mother made her a better candidate than her rival Theresa May.

The Prime Minister was repeatedly pressed for his views on the controversy as he spoke at a NATO press conference in Poland but insisted that he would "say absolutely nothing".

"I am going to play no part in this leadership election," he told ITV News. "I'm not going to make any comment about the leadership election either."

He added that he would be ready to welcome his successor "whoever she may be".

When asked whether being a parent does make someone a better leader, he replied "very good try" to laughter.

Andrea Leadsom's Conservative colleagues are "appalled" by her comments on motherhood, ITV News' Libby Wiener says.

One backbencher has told ITV News that Leadsom's suggestion that being a mother gave her an advantage over her childless rival Theresa May was "vile".

Another said she should consider her position and withdraw from the race to decide the next Tory leader and prime minister.