Katie Hopkins praises courage of tearful mother of ADHD child who challenged her 'unhelpful' views live on LBC radio

The controversial columnist admitted she had "softened" after hearing some of the parent's stories about the difficulties they faced

Katie Hopkins is rarely surprising, so well acquainted are we with her deliberately controversial remarks.

Until, that is, she shows a side of herself we are seldom party to.

The Sun columnist did exactly that as she hosted a slot on LBC radio on Monday. The first topic up for debate was her belief that the condition ADHD does not exist, was “being over-diagnosed by doctors” and was “really just excusing rubbish parenting”.

“We really have to question, what are we doing?” she said. “Why does everything have to have a medical diagnosis for everything?

“Is it that our children are getting naughtier, or are we not parenting properly?

“You have to point the finger of blame,” she continued. “That is your mother, that is your father that is responsible for that behaviour. Not ADHD.

listen to ‘Katie Hopkins says ADHD is just down to bad parenting - these parent call LBC and change her mind’ on audioBoom

“I don’t think kids are born naughty. I think some kids are just born with bad parents.”

As slowly seems to becoming customary, the first few callers agreed with her. One mother, whose son was diagnosed with ADHD, even claimed she was to blame for her child’s behaviour,

“I was in denial, it’s not my fault, I’ve got three perfectly well children, I was looking for scapegoat, looking for a label, I was at the end of my tether,” Christine from Wapping said. “He was crying out for attention.”

But it was Lemore from Mill Hill, who told Hopkins as she shook with tears on the other end of the phone lin, that her views on ADHD were ignorant and far from helpful, that really changed the tone of the conversation.

“I’ve got three children, one with ADHD, does that make me a bad parent?” she asked.

“All her behaviour, even though she’s not a bad person or a naughty person, is down to ADHD.

“To judge and say that they are naughty children is just unfair.

“Some days are very, very challenging, but they are just normal children and want to be part of normal life, and to say that is just unfair.

“You don’t seem to understand what it’s like to have someone with ADHD in the house.”

“It takes a lot of courage to come on here and tell me I’m wrong,” Hopkins said. “It’s easy for me to point the finger.”

She went on to praise Lemore a second time, as well as admitting that as a parent herself, she had “softened” to her point of view.

One caller, father Jason, whose son was diagnosed with ADHD, said he sometimes feared that he was a bad parent, and pointed out that some of the defining features of the condition were subtle. He also said that having watched Hopkins’ behaviour in the Celebrity Big Brother house last year, he felt she displayed some of the characteristics of a person with autism.

“I probably am on the spectrum,” she told him. “I did an interview with a journalist the other day, and said, ‘Look I’m definitely on the spectrum’.”

Last week, Hopkins was heavily criticised for branding a nine-year-old child with autism a “twat”, and blaming her parents for not disciplining her properly. She further compared her to a farm animal, made jibes about her weight, and suggested her parents were sponging off the taxpayer for specialist help they didn’t need. Before that, she’d likened former Labour leader Ed Miliband’s behaviour during the debates as “on the spectrum”.