Husband in hot water with former Tory MP

The former Tory MP Louise Mensch has denied she quit parliament because she knew defeat was certain at the next general election.

Mrs Mensch is sticking to her claim that she left her job as MP for Corby in Northamptonshire in August because she wanted to spend more time with her family in New York.

However, her husband Peter, who manages the band Metallica, has claimed she actually quit because she thought it would be impossible to retain her marginal seat.

In an interview, the 59-year-old said: “Did we talk about moving to England instead? Yeh, of course, but the problem was any number of issues.

“There was my business. In 2005 I moved away from New York for six months because my ex-wife wanted to live in Europe, and it was proved it didn’t run as well.

“Then there was Louise’s belief that she was only going to be an MP for three more years. She thought – and I wasn’t going to argue with her – that she’d get killed at the next election. So, to her, it seemed much more short-term than my job as a manager, which is going to go on for another 20 years.

“And listen, they hadn’t promoted her yet, and it’s not like she thought she had a future because perhaps she felt she was too outspoken. She was doing her own thing regardless and maybe wasn’t ‘Conservative party enough’ to move up the food chain.”

The claims sparked what appeared to be a good humoured marital spat on Twitter, with Mrs Mensch – a former chick-lit novelist – describing her second husband, who she married last year, as confused.

“Can honestly say I had no fear whatsoever of defeat at next election since had already decided not to stand again,” she tweeted.

Mrs Mensch, 41, added: “However, nothing, repeat nothing, influenced the decision to resign other than inability to hold family life together away from him.”

The former MP’s denials brought about a swift mea culpa from her husband. Tweeting under the handle @maindepowr, Mr Mensch wrote: “This is why I don’t do politics. Stick to music.”