Owen and Rose Paterson on election night in Wem Town Hall

The wife of North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson talks to Sue Austin about the innocent victims of the expenses scandal.

“If having to give up my job is what is needed to restore public faith in MPs then I shall accept my fate and go quietly – but with great sadness.”

Rose Paterson is not only the wife of North Shropshire MP, Owen Paterson, she has been his hard working employee for the past 13 years.

Working an average of 45 hours each week including evenings and weekends, she has a range of skills, from logistics expert and diplomat to social secretary and driver – not forgetting web editor and public relations expert.

Yet following the publication of the Government’s Kelly Report she faces having to give up her job and hand over the reins to a new person.

The Government has decreed that in five years’ time MPs will no longer be able to employ family members.

And Rose says the decision has been met with sadness and anger by those, both wives and husbands, in her position, working for an MP spouse.

“We feel we are the innocent victims in this whole business and to be honest, we are absolutely furious that because of the few who abused the system, the majority are going to suffer.”

In 1997 when Owen Paterson became MP for North Shropshire, Rose was a valuer working for Sotheby’s.

“We talked long and hard about whether or not I should give up my job, which I had done for 22 years, to go and work for Owen.”

The decision was certainly not the easy option and she found herself thrown into a ‘working all hours’ post, but one that she loves.

“I have been so lucky to have a job like this and I have always appreciated the flexibility that I have and the fact that I can work from home. It also means I do get to spend time with Owen.

“Being an MP is tough on a marriage. Owen is an incredibly hard worker, working until at least 11pm at night and of course he is away from home a great deal.

“If you are not part of that life, then you can easily come to resent it. But I have become totally immersed in the constituency and in the way of life, and I love it.”

The busy office, at the couple’s home near Ellesmere, is the hub of her work to keep the North Shropshire MP’s hectic schedule running smoothly.

A plethora of equipment, from computer to printer and no less than four telephones sits alongside the old fashioned headed notepaper and pen, a mountain of incoming letters and invitations to events as well as a library of books.

She admits to having become obsessive about her work checking emails late into the night and dealing with those that are urgent.

Rose’s main job is running her husband’s not one, but three diaries.

“Owen has his Westminster work, his constituency work and his work as shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I have to ensure all three knit together. Co-ordinating everything is complicated.”

Next week is a typical example, starting with Remembrance Day services in Shropshire followed by appointments in London, Dublin and Northern Ireland.

“I had to arrange for him to leave his car in Birmingham on the Monday and take the train to London. From there he could fly to Dublin for appointments and then take a train to Newry.

“However because a rail line had collapsed he had to take a bus part of the way with the Northern Ireland office meeting him and taking over arrangements for that part of his week. He then could fly back from Northern Ireland to Birmingham and take a shuttle to pick up his car to return to Shropshire for more engagements on the Friday.”

Living in a rural constituency means he can not rely totally on public transport and even back in North Shropshire arranging constituency visits means skilful juggling.

“The patch is 50 miles across and while I try to organise meetings or visits close together, it is sometimes impossible and Owen could find himself travelling from Market Drayton to Oswestry and then back in a few hours.

She also deals with dozens of telephone calls a day and is responsible for the constituency emails, sifting through them and deciding their importance and often talking through difficulties with constituents to try and decide the best course of action.

“They may for instance have rung to book an appointment at one of Owen’s surgeries but I know that speaking to him over the telephone and also contacting other people may be a quicker course of action for them.”

It means Rose is as up to date with the problems facing North Shropshire and its population as the MP himself.

“We are so committed together, it seems all we talk about and that can be so boring for our children. They tell us we need to ‘get a life’ but this is our life.

“In fact they do sometimes resent the time we spend at work and we have certainly inoculated them against politics.”

Rose is quick to point out that she is not unique and that many others work as hard as she does.

“Someone else will of course be able to do the job that I do equally well and if having to give up my job is what is needed to restore respect and public faith in MPs then I shall accept my fate and go quietly – but with great sadness.”

“I don’t know what I shall do, in my late 50s I can not imagine anyone will want to employ me.”