GORDON Brown and David Cameron can rely on their wives when they come to cast their votes. But Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will not have the same support as his Spanish wife is unable to vote in Britain, the Daily Mail has learned. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez – also known as Mrs Clegg - is restricted to voting at local and European elections, as she has not taken up British citizenship.
The disclosure came as the 42-year-old declared her distaste for the phrase ‘political wife’, interrupting ITV presenter Marie Nightingale when she used the term to describe Ms Gonzalez Durantez. ‘I dislike that name,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a role, I’m just married to him.’
Ms Gonzalez Durantez also insists she does ‘not have the luxury’ of taking a break from her job to campaign alongside her husband. As a partner in international law firm DLA Piper whose senior staff can earn £500,000 a year, Ms Gonzalez Durantez is the main breadwinner in the Clegg household. The mother of three said she would put her sons and career ahead of going out on the stump. She said: ‘I am willing, of course to help Nick because he is my husband. I want the best for him and of course I love him – I’m willing to help the party. ‘How am I going to do that while I have children and I have a busy job? Well listen, I don’t have the luxury of having a job that I can simply abandon for five weeks and I imagine that is a situation for most people in the country.’
Ms Gonzalez Durantez also insists she does ‘not have the luxury’ of taking a break from her job to campaign alongside her husband. As a partner in international law firm DLA Piper whose senior staff can earn £500,000 a year, Ms Gonzalez Durantez is the main breadwinner in the Clegg household. The mother of three said she would put her sons and career ahead of going out on the stump. She said: ‘I am willing, of course to help Nick because he is my husband. I want the best for him and of course I love him – I’m willing to help the party. ‘How am I going to do that while I have children and I have a busy job? Well listen, I don’t have the luxury of having a job that I can simply abandon for five weeks and I imagine that is a situation for most people in the country.’
Her position is in stark contrast to Samantha Cameron, the wife of the Tory leader, who is taking a break from her job as artistic director of exclusive accessory firm Smythson, to campaign.
Sources close to the Lib Dem leader insist that Ms Gonzalez Durantez’s remarks were not intended as a swipe at any other political leaders’ wives.
Sources close to the Lib Dem leader insist that Ms Gonzalez Durantez’s remarks were not intended as a swipe at any other political leaders’ wives.
In the ITV interview shown last night Mr Clegg admits that it was ‘love at first sight’ when he first clapped eyes on his future wife – despite a massive language barrier.
For her part, the future Mrs Clegg admitted that she had stolen Mr Clegg from another admirer – one of her close friends who was madly in love with him. ‘I won a boyfriend and lost a friend,' she admitted.
For her part, the future Mrs Clegg admitted that she had stolen Mr Clegg from another admirer – one of her close friends who was madly in love with him. ‘I won a boyfriend and lost a friend,' she admitted.
In the same interview, Mr Clegg admitted that that he is not recognised by many people but it is ‘just one of those things’. ‘I literally don’t go round the country saying, ‘Ah, is that person looking at me or not looking at me?’ ‘It’s not a beauty contest, it’s not a recognition contest. I mean I’m just totally pragmatic about this.’ He added, however, that ‘more people probably know who I am this week than they did last week…It’s just one of those things..You don’t turn the light switch on and everyone says, ‘Hallelujah, we know who this or that politician is.’ You just build that up over time.’
The Lib Dem leader also admits that after dreading Prime Minister’s Questions, he has become used to the mocking and only gets ‘a bit’ nervous. ‘It’s kind of a ritual now – I get up and 500 grown men and women yell at me.’ Despite his relatively low profile, Mr Clegg has an unusual and colourful past. His Dutch mother escaped from a prisoner of war camp in Indonesia as a child, only narrowly avoiding death.
On a lighter note, Mr Clegg admits that during a road trip with Marcel and Louis Theroux across America, the young Clegg ran over a roadrunner bird. And he also admits he was a practitioner of transcendental meditation, often urging his travel companions out of the car so he could go into a trance. Mr Clegg – who some have touted as a potential home secretary in a coalition government – has also had a brush with the law abroad.
While on a student exchange in Germany, the then 16 year old burnt down a greenhouse of rare cacti with a friend, which had been sourced from Brazil. He was given a community sentence.
Clegg's Spanish wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, youngest child, still a baby who they have named Miguel, The couple have two other sons, Antonio, seven, and Alberto, four.
