Married to an MP

[LongWeek]

Not sure if anyone wants to ask me anything...

I won’t say which constituency or party.
Might have to be a bit vague about some things to ensure anonymity.

Do you feel like he is absent from home life most of the times?

Does he help around the house and with children if you have any?

It may not be a he !!

Do you agree on politics?

Are you Ed Balls? If so, do you wear black silky boxers?

Do you benefit from your partner’s 11% payrise the same time nurses, teachers and firefighters were given nothing for the 8th year in a row? Is it a source of embarrassment for your partner, do they think it was a good idea to give MPs such a large payrise?

How did your spouse fare in the expenses scandal?

If you found they were sending 'inappropriate messages' to constituents would you alert the press or would you cover up for them?

Do you agree with his/her political views?
Do his/her decisions have an effect on your family?

Is your H confident that things will be OK after Brexit for the UK and our economy?

It may not be a he !!

Yes, of course.

Home life- he is absent from home life Monday morning to Thursday night as he is in London. Does constituency work Friday & saturdays.
Friday’s usually a full work day 830-4, Saturdays depends on the week. Might be a full day out of the house, might be nothing. Busy at the moment as summer time = more fetes, fairs etc that he has to go to.
Helping round the house & with kids- yes when he’s here.

Politics- we don’t agree on everything. And I do tell him when I think he is wrong!
I’m Not Ed balls!

Pay & expenses- wasn’t an MP during expenses scandal.
Pay- I personally think that the big pay rise was really bad timing. It’s independently decided (as in, MPs don’t get to vote on it) but at the time it was not helpful.
I don’t think he was embarressed, just thought it should’ve been lower rise. MP pay now linked to overall public sector pay.
(He took a pay cut to become an MP. So for our family, he works longer hours, is away from home 4 days a week- for less pay than before)

If I found he was sending ‘inappropriate’ messages to anyone I would not alert the press, but would not cover it up.

I’d kick him out. I still can’t believe that some MPs are so arrogant & stupid that they think they can get away with it.

Decisions impacting family- yes. We have had death threats. We have had to have security stuff installed at home because of his job. Only the ‘standard’ measures, not ‘enhanced’ as the death threats were not ‘severe’.
I get briefed by counter terrorism police.
So far kids have not had a hard time at school- but it is likely that they will. MPs from all parties can have issues with that for their families.

Brexit- DH is by nature an optimist, but we both do wonder how on earth it all ends.
Hoping there won’t be another election- they’re very stressful & exhausting for us as a family- but also not sure how politics can carry on as it is.

Do people treat you differently since he became a MP?

Do you work?

Thanks for the questions.
I also should’ve said about the pay rise- we give a lot to charity, and therefore substantially increased our giving when he got the pay rise.

I know it doesn’t solve the inequalities over public sector pay.

Do you work and have your own income?

Most of my friends don’t treat me differently. Though a few people who hadn’t spoken to me for a while suddenly wanted to be friends again the day after the election.

Some people who don’t vote for his party wont speak to me any more.

I work in the constituency office- ie I’m one of his staff. Part time. (I know that’s controversial).

DD wants to go into politics. She's struggling to find a work experience placement for year 10. Other than local constituency office (which has no space) what would be relevant? I realise this is more a question for your DH!

So my income is entirely dependent on his job. If he had an affair, I’d kick him out, and lose my job.

bishopstomefaffing that’s a tricky one. Year 10 is quite young in terms of constituency office. What we deal with is highly confidential, and can be distressing. (Medical issues, mental health, evictions, visas etc)
It’s also nearly all on secure parliamentary computers, which makes finding work experience jobs for students to do quite difficult.
There is a website called ‘work4mp’ which might be a good place to look at. Or ask your local political parties if she could volunteer for a day- they’d probably get her stuffing envelopes or delivering leaflets or photocopying etc. But would give her an idea of stuff that goes on in the background.
Local councillors? Or local council offices?
We tend to have year 12+ for work experience.

Or get involved in the youth parliament- I can’t remember what age you have to be. There are also parliamentary schemes for young people. The parliament website might have details.

Thank you so much! I will pass that on to her. I think she was feeling a bit disheartened you've explained clearly what she won't listen to me saying. She met our youth mayor the other day and is looking into youth parliament. Local council offices is a great idea. She's also contacted lots if law firms so hopefully she'll find something.

Party or country - which comes first?

The other thing she needs to remember is that she wants to go into politics, is that it is a long game.

You won’t get anywhere unless you’re willing to persevere, and work hard being nice to everybody all the time! For every person working in politics (particularly at national level) there are hundreds who didn’t make it. And they will all have spent hours knocking on doors, stuffing envelopes, delivering leaflets as volunteers.

DH is an MP, which to many seems important and glamorous. Before the 2015 election he was working 6.5 days a week, 10-15 hour days preparing leaflets, knocking on doors etc - all unpaid. For several months.
You have to have a passion for it. And be very focused on what you want to achieve.

Numberfaker- I think he’d say country. He’s very loyal by nature- but I really don’t know!