Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld has revealed that the real reason for her pursuit of British chocolate-maker Cadbury is her demanding mother. Rosenfeld Snr, Gertrude, is a constant, looming figure in the Kraft CEO’s life, and sources close to the business leader say that her influence is “like, really massive”.

A source close to the eerily manly Rosenfeld told the Daily Shame that “Irene’s mum has been on at her for years saying ‘you’ll never buy Cadbury, you’re useless, you’re rubbish at your job, you couldn’t even buy a creme egg, you’re no good, you’ll never buy Cadbury’, yadiyadiya, you get the picture. Well, she’s shown her now, hasn’t she. But I doubt she’d be pleased, she never is.”

Rosenfeld Snr calls her daughter approximately twenty-five times a day, telling her that she “looks like a man”, “will never get on in life”, and “was always going to fail”.

“It’s something Irene’s used to”, says a close friend. “She grew up with that pressure, and this whole Kraft/Cadbury’s thing all happened because of her mother’s constant bitching. In fact, the main reason Irene spends so much time at work is that she doesn’t want to go home because her mother complains about her cooking all the time.”

It appears that the mother’s influence goes beyond the purchase of the “last British company on earth”. Cadbury’s workers have already heard rumours that her mother is a huge fan of outsourcing to Vietnam and axeing everyone who works in HQ. She has even offered to decimate the workforce personally with her great-grandfather’s blunderbuss.

Irene’s sister Gloria, who escaped the family home at the age of 15 to live in a hippy commune says “She just sits in her pink chair and screams obscenities down the phone at Irene. ‘Sack them all – you can get chocolate made in Vietnam – I never did trust the British – have you tasted a creme egg anyway?’ – Irene will do anything to try to satisfy mum. I gave up years ago, but Irene keeps on going, bless her.”