Devizes MP Claire Perry reveals that her marriage is over
9:06am Thursday 21st March 2013 in Latest News By Lewis Cowen
Claire Perry MP and her husband Clayton at an event in Devizes. The couple are splitting up
Devizes MP Claire Perry has told how her 17-year marriage to husband Clayton looks as if it has broken down. Mrs Perry said that she was very sad, but that it was an amicable process.
She said: “Our marriage has become increasingly difficult for several years. It’s nobody’s fault, no one is to blame, despite our best efforts, we have just grown steadily apart.”
Mr and Mrs Perry, both 47, met in New York in 1994 while they were both working in the financial sector there. They married in England and settled in Salisbury when they returned to the UK some years later. Mr Perry, New Zealand born, is an asset manager in financial services and the couple have three children.
Mrs Perry said: “We both have demanding jobs and for some time we have been leading very separate lives. But we still live under the same roof in Wiltshire and in London and it is entirely manageable. After 19 years together our primary focus is on our children. It is terribly sad and difficult for them and they are and will always be our main priority.”
Mrs Perry said that discussions are continuing between her and Mr Perry about the next stage and they have not yet put any legal machinery in gear leading to a divorce.
She cited her reasons for telling the Gazette and Herald about the situation, saying “Although this is a private and very sad matter for my family, I wanted my constituents to know the facts from me through their reliable local newspaper and not from gossip or tittle-tattle.
"I expect some will be worried that this will interfere with my ability to do my job and I would like to reassure them that whatever happens this will not affect the way I represent them locally or in Parliament and that I am totally committed to being the MP for the Devizes Constituency.”
Mrs Perry is still looking to move into her Constituency after encountering difficulty selling the family home in Broadchalke, near Salisbury.
She said: “I pledged that I would move to the Constituency as soon as I had been elected, but it has proved harder than we thought to sell our house. I am looking at houses in the Devizes area and I hope I can move in before long.”
Mrs Perry said she had been keeping her local supporters fully informed of the situation.
She said: “MPs should never spring surprises on their associations and this issue was no different. I told them of our difficulties a while ago and my association could not have been more supportive.”
Comments(23)
markinmelksham
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7:11pm Thu 21 Mar 13
shed
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8:34pm Thu 21 Mar 13
Don Jones
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10:01am Fri 22 Mar 13
Roy-Orbit of Chippenham
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11:18am Fri 22 Mar 13
It must have been terrible to have to live with that over-bearing over-opiniated shrieking voice day after day.
I'm surprised he lasted this long.
shed
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11:51am Fri 22 Mar 13
Don Jones wrote:yes it is isn't it, but sadly I can think of nothing pleasant at all to say about this awful woman, she is a useless MP, she is overweeningly ambitious, crass, overbearing, just watch her on question time a few weeks back, almost shouting her opponent down, which is why one Tory MP was heard to "say every time she opens her mouth we lose a 1000 votes"
How unlike Shed to come out with a couple of deeply unpleasant comments.
This woman will put her personal ambition before anything, even her family,certainly before the interests of her constituency for which she has done nothing.
She should never have been selected as our or anyone else's MP, its only because her and her Credit Suisse husband are pals of Camoron that she was.
She has no opinion of her own she just brown noses Dave and does what he says.
Her evasive tactics on the gay marriage vote proved her political craftiness.
The sooner she is got rid of the better, hopefully UKIP will give her a shove out.
So Mr Jones if you find that unpleasant, go and console her, 'cos I don't care.
Don Jones
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2:05pm Fri 22 Mar 13
donym?
Fact is, the Tories have big plans for Mrs Perry and we're largely a means to acheiving those plans. How many MPs really do say what they think rather than what their parties want them to say? She's ambitious and knows who she needs to impress. After all, I reckon she could go round and punch every constituent and would still romp home. Such is the constituency ... and such is the local opposition.
She does come across as pleasant and clever when you meet her, though. And if she want consoling, I'm sure she'll find someone who's less of a peasant to do it.
shed
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2:45pm Fri 22 Mar 13
that puts me in my place, just another taxpaying pleb,
"She's ambitious and knows who she needs to impress."
But that's what I have always said, she'd out for herself only and no-one else, especially us "peasants" in this bit of Wiltshire.
"She does come across as pleasant and clever when you meet her, though."
I bet she does, depending on who you are and what you can do for her career.
Guileful and manipulative was my verdict.
cris
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3:09pm Fri 22 Mar 13
Don Jones
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3:34pm Fri 22 Mar 13
cris wrote:Carriers often needs boosting.
just doing it to boost her carrier... sad times
And Shed, I wasn't calling you a peasant. It was a response you the last paragraph in your previous post.
I notice you ignored the pseudonym bit, though.
Yanziboom
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3:40pm Fri 22 Mar 13
Nothing wrong with a pseudonym, but don't use it just to be insulting.
notscot
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7:12pm Fri 22 Mar 13
shed
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7:48pm Fri 22 Mar 13
I detest this woman intensely, not so much on account of her politics, but because she represents all that is wrong with out political system and establishment.She cares only for herself, looking after number one is her sole interest.
two things to catch up on, your remark about unpleasant remarks =, fair enough, but it wasn't me who offered a blow job to Bercow, she has the the hardnosed speech of the gutter for all her airs.
as for the nom de plume, well, most folk on here post under one, and if Claire knew what I was saying about her on here she'd have divorced me years ago, she doesn't read the local press, she just cuts out the bits about herself ;-)
jamiedavey21
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12:35am Sat 23 Mar 13
notscot
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6:04am Sat 23 Mar 13
Don Jones wrote:In actual fact - he pinched one of those remarks from the "lady" herself. If you're going to make base remarks in a public forum - just for another chance at throwing a cheap (literally) shot at someone else and a bit of media attention - people will remember.
How unlike Shed to come out with a couple of deeply unpleasant comments.
Perhaps she'll emigrate - something useful, for once?
shed
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10:33am Sat 23 Mar 13
This woman is not noted for her delicacy of language in the House of Commons.
and if shes'd like it in the house of commons I am prepared to be she's worse outside it.
Harold Shand
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12:55pm Sat 23 Mar 13
notscot
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2:20pm Sat 23 Mar 13
Harold Shand wrote:Like I said - be careful what you say - it can come right back & bite you in the @rse. Much as it was said in a bar in the "clubhouse" it was still a public place - and ANYONE overhearing was entitled to talk about it.
She made the BJ remark in a fit of pique in the bar in the house of commons. It only became public because some slimy w@anker went and told the teacher about it. I though it showed her in a human light for once.
Should have had more sense than to trust people in the same game, eh?
shed
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2:45pm Sat 23 Mar 13
It shows a lack of self control, which is not a desirable quality in someone who aims for high office.
And what was the reason for this 'fit of Pique'? that she couldn't get teachers full attention despite her attention seeking antics, you cant miss that voice even in the question time bearpit.
You can take the girl out of the gutter but you can't take the gutter out of the girl in some cases?
Bottom Of The Barrel
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8:40pm Sat 23 Mar 13
freddie_W
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4:57pm Wed 27 Mar 13
Don Jones wrote:"The Tories have big plans for Mrs Perry" WHY !!!!!!
So, you're not a big fan then, Mr Hiding-behind-a-pseu
donym?
Fact is, the Tories have big plans for Mrs Perry and we're largely a means to acheiving those plans. How many MPs really do say what they think rather than what their parties want them to say? She's ambitious and knows who she needs to impress. After all, I reckon she could go round and punch every constituent and would still romp home. Such is the constituency ... and such is the local opposition.
She does come across as pleasant and clever when you meet her, though. And if she want consoling, I'm sure she'll find someone who's less of a peasant to do it.
freddie_W
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5:27pm Wed 27 Mar 13
You might fall for that kind of thing Don believe me there isnt that much to like !!
Don Jones
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9:33am Thu 28 Mar 13
And don’t know why the Tories have big plans for Mrs Perry but the evidence suggests that they have. If they didn’t, why would they give her one of the safest seats in the country? I don’t think she even had to serve the normal ‘apprenticeship’ of standing somewhere like Barnsley or Ebbw Vale first..
She’ll romp back in again next time. Partly because neither of the opposition parties seems able to come up with a credible candidate who’s here for the long haul. They would have needed to have been working tirelessly and very publicly since before the last election. I’m not sure they’ve even selected prospective candidates yet. When it comes down to it, all the parties see this constituency s solid Tory with no prospect of that changing.
As for me ‘falling’ or that kind of thing … well if, that’s how you choose to misread it, that’s up to you.
shed says...
2:10pm Thu 21 Mar 13