Tory leadership hopeful Andrea Leadsom's five most controversial views

Andrea Leadsom has emerged as the second favourite to become the next Conservative leader among bookmakers.

The previously little-known energy minister, who was a vocal Brexit campaigner throughout the EU Referendum, is emerging as the most likely candidate to challenge the frontrunner Theresa May.

Mrs Leadsom, 53, gained the backing of fellow Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson on Tuesday morning who said she had the "zap, drive and determination" needed to be Prime Minister. She has also was won the support of a number of other senior Conservatives figures such as Iain Duncan Smith and John Redwood.

She has less frontline political experience than her rivals and is the only one to have never held a cabinet-level ministerial position. Prior to embarking on a career in politics, she had a lengthy career on the trading floors of the City of London. She worked as a Barclays investment banker and later spent a decade in fund management.

Mrs Leadsom has signalled she would initiate the process for Britain’s exit from the EU in September, saying that Britain would have left Europe by spring 2017.

Voted against gay marriage

Mrs Leadsom is known for her pro-marriage views and was one of five MPs to abstain from the government's Same Sex Marriage Bill in 2013.

"I find myself genuinely torn…,” she said. “I cannot vote against a measure that would mean so much to the minority of homosexual couples for whom marriage is the ultimate recognition for their genuine feelings for each other. Yet nor can I vote for a measure that risks centuries of faith-based belief in marriage.”

Linking case of Baby P to non-committed adult relationships

Writing in a blog post on her website in 2008, Mrs Leadsom criticised non-committed adult relationships and claimed the extreme case of Baby P shows how they are “proving fatal to the next generation”.

“Marriage between two adults is the best way to raise children and defend our society,” she wrote.

Fracking

Mrs Leadsom has been a vocal proponent of fracking throughout her time as Minister of State for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change - a position she has held since 11 May 2015.

Speaking to trade magazine Drill and Drop a few months after she became energy minister she said: "When I first came to this job one of my two questions was 'Is climate change real?' and the other was 'Is hydraulic fracturing safe?' And, on both of those questions, I now am completely persuaded.”

Anti-political correctness

Writing in a blog post on her website back in 2006, Mrs Leadsom railed against political correctness, criticising gender neutral terms and warning against female teachers wearing “veils covering their face”.

“I don't want to be called the 'Chair' of OXPIP, nor the 'Spokesperson' for South Northamptonshire. What's wrong with Chairman and Spokesman?” she wrote.

“I don't want my daughter to be taught by a woman with a veil covering her face. What's wrong with wanting to communicate face to face?” she added. “I don't want my mother to live in fear of teenagers who can't be 'touched' by the police. What's wrong with insisting on discipline?”

Gay adoption

In a blog post in 2009, Leadsom expressed her displeasure at gay adoption after reading a news story in the paper.

“There’s a truly unbelievable story in the paper today, that a young brother and sister… have been turned down for adoption by their own grandparents… If that weren’t enough, the siblings are now to be adopted by two complete strangers against the wishes of the grandparents”.

“And as if that weren’t enough, the two strangers are a gay couple, who have been selected ahead of several heterosexual couples,” she later added.