VIDEO-UKIP's Nigel Farage says women who breastfeed in public should 'sit in the corner'

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Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

By Blathnaid HealyUK2014-12-05 13:19:41 UTC

LONDON — UKIP is known for taking a firm stance on immigrants but now it's taking aim at women who breastfeed in public.

The comments from Nigel Farage, the party's leader, come after London hotel Claridges asked a woman breastfeeding to cover up with a cloth napkin while having tea earlier this week.

Asked by LBC radio whether the hotel was wrong to behave in the way it did by putting a napkin over a baby's head, Farage said it was up to Claridges, adding that breastfeeding women could "perhaps sit in the corner."

"I think that given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isn't too difficult to breastfeed a baby in a way that's not openly ostentatious," he said.

Farage said it wasn't an issue that he personally got "terribly hung up about," but said "people, particularly of the older generation, get awkward and embarrassed by it."

Louise Burns tweeted Monday about her experience in Claridges. Her original tweet was retweeted more than 1,000 times.

The hotel told the BBC it asks that "mothers are discreet towards other guests."

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