Was Louise Mensch right to speak up about picking her kids up from school?

On the face of it, Tory MP Louise Mensch’s public pronouncement, in the midst of yesterday’s Commons inquiry into phone hacking, that she had to dash to collect the kids from school was one for the sisterhood.

Why shouldn’t a woman who – whatever you may think of our political classes – tackles a tough job with long hours be bold enough to own up to being a working Mum?

After all, if women in high positions stay schtum about their childcare needs, what good does that do for the mothers working on the checkout in Tesco when they need to pick up baby from nursery or leave early to be with a poorly tot?

So why is it that the former chick lit author’s announcement, as she questioned News International head James Murdoch, was met with such a lukewarm response?

The Observer’s former political editor Gaby Hinsliff tweeted that she was “not sure” if Mensch’s “leaving cttee early to pick up kids=lady triumph (hurrah for bringing w/parent issues into open etc)...”

And The Guardian’s Jane Martinson went one step further, denouncing Mensch’s move as “grandstanding” and adding: “The timing of this appears… grimly aimed at maximising the media impact.”

The problem, frankly, is that Ms Mensch, for all her attributes, is not a lady to inspire much sisterly feeling.

Part of the problem is her apparent love of the media circus – reams of newspaper interviews where she talks about how she dresses to please her husband, admits to having taken drugs when younger or coyly plays along with the ‘has she/hasn’t she?’ gossip on her facelift.

Then there are the cringeworthy appearances on Have I Got News For You and incessant Tweets about everything from coffee mornings to Rentaghost. There’s keeping a public profile and then there’s starting to seem addicted to publicity…

Neither can it help that that she chose to defend her childcare arrangements by describing herself as a “single mother” on Twitter – despite having previously revealed that she shares custody of her three children with their father, and has recently remarried. Not likely, then, to provoke much sympathy among the genuine single parents out there.

And yet… What else was she to do? Her buttery, brash way of going about it (to James Murdoch: “We have children of the same age, I think”) may be unpalatable to many, but the fact remains she wanted to pick her children up from school.

Yes, she could have made alternative arrangements, as many have noted, but the same argument could be made to fit on any day of the week – and why should it?

Meanwhile, of all the professions, surely female MPs have the biggest duty to shout out about the needs of working parents and thus set an example?

If male politicians like shadow health secretary Andy Burnham can decry the “anti-family friendly” conditions of Parliament, or Nick Clegg can – in the words of his wife – “kill himself” to do the school run, why the heck shouldn’t Mensch have her say, too?

The alternative is what thousands of working parents are being forced to do every day, by an unspoken sort of collusion. That is, never speak out about having to get back early for the kids, or to dash away because a sick child’s been sent home from school, for fear of being branded slack.

Instead, they slip away quietly, hoping no-one will notice, or even concoct elaborate reasons to cover up the fact: which is, yes, kids do impact on working life.

It doesn’t mean you can’t do your job; it doesn’t mean you’re any less committed or efficient or professional. But it does mean parents need to start owning up to what they need - and that’s flexible hours - otherwise nothing will change.

In the end, love Ms Mensch or hate her, it doesn’t really matter. You don’t have to like the woman to know she had a point.

This article was published on Fri 11 November 2011