Theresa May calls for fathers to talk politics to daughters and encourage their careers

THERESA May yesterday spoke movingly of her beloved father who died in a car crash as she called for more dads to encourage their daughters into politics.

Speaking at the launch of a campaign to get more women to become MPs, she said her dad “encouraged me, whatever job I did, to just get on with it and to do my best.”

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Mrs May’s father, Rev Hubert Brasier died in 1981 after his Morris Marina collided with a Range Rover on the A40 near Oxford.

In a powerful film for the Tory’s Women2Win Daughters campaign, the PM urged dads to talk to girls about current affairs and politics.

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Mrs May said: “I hope that young women and girls will look at the women in Parliament and say that’s something I want to do.

“My father encouraged me, whatever job I did, to just get on with it and to do my best. I enjoyed talking current affairs so I got an early interest in politics.

“And he encouraged me to see no boundaries, no barriers, just go out there and do the best that you can and aim high.”

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The PM added: “I have always said that if you have a good diversity of people in a group then you get better decisions.

“I think it is hugely important that young girls are able to see women in Parliament.

“We are at a stage now where we have a real opportunity to encourage that go-getting, outward-looking country, that entrepreneurial country that we can be.

“I want to see women being part of that and I want to see women being part of that in Parliament.”

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Mrs May appeared with several male Tory MPs who were filmed calling for a more equal world for their daughters.

Tory Party chairman Patrick McLoughlin said there was still much more to be done to tackle the issue.

There were only 17 women Tory MPs when David Cameron became leader in 2005.

There are now 68.

Tory MP Will Quince added: “The world my daughters live in is not an equal one. One of the greatest sadnesses for me is going into schools and one of the first questions a girl asks me is, can a girl be a Member of Parliament.

“Although the answer is of course yes, the fact they are asking that question shows there is a problem.”