Owen Paterson MP: Man in a suitcase and man in the Cabinet
As Shropshire's highest profile MP, Owen Paterson is being pulled three ways as one of the Government's most travelled politicians.
As Shropshire's highest profile MP, Owen Paterson is being pulled three ways as one of the Government's most travelled politicians, writes Sunita Patel.
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson hasn't driven a car in the UK since he was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on May 12 last year.
Security measures that go with the job mean he has a bevy of bodyguards around him all the time, wherever he goes - be it the House of Commons, his official ministerial residence at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland . . . or a pub in Oswestry.
His everyday life has been transformed from being an opposition backbench MP to a prominent minister of David Cameron's Cabinet.
And his time and life are now split three ways, between Shropshire, London and Northern Ireland. The job must make the 54-year-old one of the most travelled ministers on the front bench.
"I have a triangular life. I have a set of clothes in Shropshire where I live, a set of clothes in London and a set of clothes in Hillsborough. There is just no pattern to it. I am constantly on the move," he says.
"I was the shadow secretary for three years and I did then make a point of going to Northern Ireland every week, and the interesting thing was, people in North Shropshire didn't notice because I didn't give up my constituency work.
"And, I intend very much to keep that going. The problem now of course is it's much more high profile.
"So, I'd be going to Northern Ireland for a day each week and then spending the usual time in North Shropshire. Now, suddenly, because I am possibly seen on telly or I'm doing radio, it is much more visible that I am travelling. I am on the move the whole time."
He's not kidding. Even as I conduct this interview, which starts off face-to-face, Mr Paterson is on the edge of his seat with one eye on the TV - watching MPs debate the Loans to Ireland Bill in the House of Commons.
Before our conversation ends, he will have departed his parliamentary office to vote on legislation, jumped into his ministerial car to leave the parliamentary estate in Westminster, and arrived at the Security Service offices on the banks of the River Thames.
He may still have the ministerial Jaguar waiting outside, but the private jet-set lifestyle enjoyed by former Northern Ireland secretaries has been scrapped, in keeping with the Government's spending cuts agenda.
"I have banned the use of a hired private jet to save money which used to cost the taxpayer £6,000 one-way, on some occasions £9,000 one-way. We have never used it once. So I fly on absolute bog-standard commercial airlines like everyone else — which is actually a very good thing because I meet people," he says.
"Under current circumstances where we are having to make big reductions - we are making 25 per cent reductions in the budget of the Northern Ireland Office - the first place you start are conveniences for the Secretary of State. Under current circumstances where we are borrowing £280,000 a minute you just can't justify flying around in a private jet."
His Hillsborough residence, however, is not bog-standard and pretty comfy. And there was a nice surprise waiting for him when he arrived at his third home.
"It was like capturing Berlin in 1945 - we found a very good bottle of armagnac hidden amongst the cereals which the Woodwards had left behind in the kitchen at Hillsborough," he reveals.
"I effectively have a sort of flat upstairs at Hillsborough which is extremely comfortable, very nice, and a very good kitchen, and there was this bottle of armagnac . . . which has since been drunk."
While he may now have a high profile Cabinet job, Mr Paterson insists the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
"After 13 years in opposition banging on about things that I would like to do, it's very, very interesting and much more worthwhile being in a position where I can get things done.
"The other day, an 80-year-old chap with a 76-year-old wife emailed me because he was without central heating. We emailed the chief executive of British Gas expecting it to get passed down the line like it usually does, and within two minutes the chief executive himself emailed back and had got the whole thing sorted.
"The up-side is I am treated slightly differently as a member of Cabinet. I have access, instant access to the head of any organisation. Before, I would have been an opposition MP, writing to an unsympathetic Labour minister.
"It is completely different now - absolutely nothing public, but a private meeting with Schools Secretary Michael Gove for example, a private letter to the minister in the House of Lords. It is just different, but it is very low profile.
"If you did a search of the number of hits I get in the Shropshire Star now, it's minimal, because it is all under the radar.
"Whereas if you looked me up in 1997, I was asking questions every day, I was in parliament speaking every day, I was on committees, I was banging on the whole time.
"The downside for the constituency is that I am not banging on as I have been for the past 13 years in the House of Commons as often, and perform like a backbench MP like I used to, but I still do behind the scenes.
"As a standard MP, nothing's changed. We have had constituents bring up tuition fees, benefit reforms, pensions, the economy, Equitable Life, savers' schemes, corporation tax and how you can revive business - and the campaigns, the green campaign, animal rights, circus animals, nuclear - all this just carries on.
"I am still keeping the surgeries, going around schools and attending various events and meetings in the constituency, keeping in touch with local things and local councillors. It just takes more careful planning and organising, but I have a good team around me."
He adds: "I have quite serious things to decide for Northern Ireland, so you have to spend some time reading up quite a lot of stuff. The security position is really difficult and is deteriorating. And it is for real - people get hurt. We have been very lucky recently. No-one has been killed. So that is all a complete extra side to my life and work."
Mr Paterson's wife of 30 years, Rose, manages his diary from his constituency office. His office manager Claire Ayres handles all correspondence, and his Northern Ireland office is run by professional civil servants.
"It would not work without them," he stresses. "I have never worked in any government department in any form before. I have never been an advisor, a consultant, a researcher, I've never been a councillor - so government, when you're in business, is the element. So it has been a bit of a learning curve for me.
"The security is still the thing that is still taking time to get used to, being accompanied everywhere. I haven't driven a car in the UK since I took over.
"It has been quite a learning curve for my security guys too, my living in Shropshire, more than 100 miles from London, going racing and eventing and things like that. If I go to Ellesmere to buy something, I get taken. I am still getting used to it. It is just something I have to live with.
So, can he go out for a meal?
"Oh yeah, absolutely . . . but they come," he laughs. "Everyone finds it quite difficult," he goes on, referring to his family. "They learn to live with it. But they don't have it every day, I have it every day."
On the workings of the coalition, Mr Paterson says: "It is really not coming over how well it is working at Cabinet level. David Cameron runs a meeting extremely effectively. People have to say something quite briskly and he makes it clear after three or four contributions that if you are going to come in you have got to have something worthwhile to say - so we get through a lot of business - but everyone has a say if they have got something serious to contribute.
"There is a massive agreement on where we are going. I am absolutely confident there is enough to keep us going for five years, easily.
"And, David Cameron expects people to do the job. He doesn't want to be his own Northern Ireland Secretary, so it has been a bit of a learning curve, I think, for Northern Ireland politicians to find they can't go galloping off to Downing Street if they can't get their way from me. They have to come to me."
The phone cuts dead as he arrives at the MI5 offices.