Spouses ban will mean policing bedrooms, claims Flint's husband

Former minister Caroline Flint
12 April 2012

"Bedroom police" will be needed to check up on MPs if the ban on them employing spouses goes ahead, the husband of a former minister said today.

More than three dozen wives and husbands employed by MPs are facing the sack under the Kelly Report.

Phil Cole, who runs the constituency office of his wife, former Europe minister Caroline Flint, pointed out that the couple lived together for 10 years before they married in 2001. Mr Cole said their belated decision to marry is now likely to cost him his job.

"What if an MP begins a sexual relationship with a staff [member]?" he asked. "At what point does it become a formal relationship under the Kelly rules? Are we going to have bedroom policing?

"We are going to have a dual set of rules, one for single MPs, or gay MPs who have not been through a civil ceremony, and one for those who are married or have been through a civil ceremony. Would my position be different if Caroline and I were still living together but were not married?"

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