COLUMN: Motherhood isn't for me, but that doesn't make me a lesser person...

Score one for female diplomacy. One moment Andrea Leadsom appeared to be using the fact that she was a mother to give her an edge in the Conservative leadership race. It sparked such a furious backlash that she promptly pulled out of the contest.

Yet almost the next moment the new Prime Minister, Theresa May - the very woman who had appeared to be the target of Leadsom’s comments - offered her the plum job of Environment Secretary.

Male politicians take note: that’s how it is done.

Leadsom had apologised to May, of course, and her words were probably taken out of context.

But the whole controversy does raise the question of whether being a parent makes you better qualified at, well, life.

Unlike my sister, who took to motherhood beautifully and always melts at the sight of a baby, I’ve never felt that maternal pull.

Motherhood: Andrea Leadsom sparked a row about whether being a parent made you better qualified for life...

Of course I was besotted with my nephews and niece when they arrived, and I love them as if they were my own.

Being an auntie means I get to enjoy the fun stuff, like taking them on adventures and treating them.

When they were babies, even changing their nappies was a novelty rather than a chore.

But actual parenting is something else, and it’s never really appealed.

I do occasionally feel a pang of loss. During a recent clear-out I came across the dolls house I cherished as a child, and felt sad that there was no daughter to pass it onto.

And it must be lovely to do mother-daughter things like shopping trips that my friends do with their teenage girls.

I’m sure there’s nothing quite so joyful as having children - but being a parent also involves stress and worry which, to be honest, I’m glad to be without.

While it wasn’t exactly a lifestyle choice, being childless isn’t an issue for me.

My partner never wanted children either, and hates the idea of all the preparation and paraphernalia that comes with rearing infants.

But sometimes you feel like half a person simply because you haven’t reproduced.

Whenever anyone asks if I have children, a look of pity or bemusement will flash across their face when I say no - then I feel obliged to justify that by saying: “But I’m an auntie”, followed by some quip about having all the fun without the responsibility.

People gush on about having children, how it’s the best thing you’ll ever do, and if you’re not a parent “you don’t understand”.

To a certain extent, they’re probably right.

I occasionally bite my lip when listening to friends and colleagues discuss childcare issues because, as a non-parent, my opinion doesn’t count.

But I know bad parenting when I see it.

Like the mother I saw repeatedly telling her crying toddler to “shut your mouth” on a bus recently.

He was clearly tired and hot, strapped into a pushchair, but she did nothing to try and soothe him.

Then there are the tiresome over-protective mothers who treat their children like priceless china or, rather creepily, their “best friend”.

And the ones who stick smug “Little Monster on Board” signs in their car windows, telling me to drive safely while their offspring climb all over their back seat.

Motherhood just isn’t for me.

But, of all the reasons why I’d make a lousy prime minister, it’s way down the list.