I would rather Theresa May concentrated on running the country than spending 'time with the girls'

To mark International Women’s Day, Theresa May submitted to an interview with ITV News, only to be asked by Julie Etchingham how she liked to let her hair down in a get-together with girlfriends.

The Prime Minister replied: “What a question, I haven’t thought about it … I’m not going to have the time to have the girls round and have an evening together I’m afraid ... I don’t think that when you let your hair down there’s only one way of doing it.”

According to some commentators, this refusal to play ball and chat about dancing around your handbag to “I Will Survive” was yet another example of the Maybot in operation, a woman who can’t empathise or speak like normal people.

In fact, Theresa May was much keener to talk about new laws which will see perpetrators of domestic abuse tagged and forbidden from drinking alcohol. By asking her this kind of dumb question, Etchingham fell into the trap of projecting a gender stereotype onto someone who sees themselves as a politician first and a female second.

I’ve no time for people who judge other women by their ability to hang out in packs, to empathise over shoes and makeup and wardrobe choices, to swap diet tips. If I see any groups of women “letting their hair down” in a wine bar, restaurant or at an airport, I generally give them a wide berth.

Whenever May has been forced to come up with female-friendly titbits (like owning 100 recipe books), it always sounds phoney. On Desert Island Discs in 2014 she made the mistake of choosing “Walk Like a Man” by the Four Seasons, only to have to explain: “It’s not a man’s world … one of the challenges is to ensure that people are able to be themselves.”

Berate May for failing to find the cash to keep women’s refuges open (up to a third may close under new funding arrangements) but don’t mock her for failing to find solace with a group of girlfriends.