Theresa May’s husband Philip jokes she’s a ‘bloody difficult’ woman at home too in first joint TV interview on The One Show
The Prime Minister's other-half opened up on the BBC's prime-time show to reveal it was 'love at first sight' when the couple met at university
THERESA May’s husband says she lives up to her “bloody difficult woman” label at home by issuing strict orders to take out the bins.
Philip May made the comment last night during his first TV interview alongside his wife as Tory election chiefs tried to soften her image.
The 59-year-old financial adviser was asked if the famous description rang true in their private life.
Joking that there was “give and take in every marriage”, he added: “I get to decide when I take the bins out, not if I take the bins out.”
His wife, 60, jumped in to say: “There’s boy jobs and girl jobs”.
Mr May agreed: “I do the traditional boy jobs, by and large.”
The “bloody difficult woman” jibe came from Tory veteran Ken Clarke.
During the cosy chat on BBC1’s The One Show with Alex James and Matt Baker, below, Mr May disclosed he got only “a little section” of the wardrobe in No10 because of his wife’s love of clothes and shoes.
Theresa and Philip May reveal all in personal One Show interview
Philip on Theresa’s cooking:
“Theresa is a very good cook indeed, you have a large number of cookery books.”
Theresa on the pair as a couple:
“We know each other really well… but we are still individuals.”
Philip on being married to the Prime Minister:
“It’s an enormous privilege. If you are the kind of man who expects his tea to be on the table at 6.00 every evening, you could be a little bit disappointed.”
Theresa on the media’s obsession with her shoes:
“I like buying nice shoes, and it gives me another reason to go and buy more.”
Philip on his fashion sense:
“I quite like ties… and jackets. Fairly normal mens stuff. I sort of get a little section [of the wardrobe in No 10] I’ve carved out for myself.”
Philip on Theresa’s red boxes:
“I don’t think it’s ever made an appearance in the bedroom!”
But despite Mrs May’s phenomenal work ethic, he said she drew the line on reading official papers in bed.
Asked about the ministerial red box, he said: “I don’t think it’s ever made an appearance in the bedroom. I’ve never had to shoo it out.”
Mr May also inadvertently lifted the lid on when his wife first set her sights on the nation’s top job.
He said that he had “never heard Theresa say she wanted to be Prime Minister until she was well established in the Shadow Cabinet”.
But Mrs May took her place around the Tories’ top table as long ago as 1999, when she was made Shadow Education and Employment Secretary just two years after first being elected as an MP.
Mr May said being unofficial first husband was an enormous privilege.
He added: “There isn’t really a downside. But if you’re the sort of man who expects your tea on the table at six o’clock every night, you could be disappointed.”
The Mays agreed they were instantly attracted when they were introduced at an Oxford student disco by mutual friend Benazir Bhutto, later prime minister of Pakistan.
Asked by Alex whether he fancied her instantly, Mr May replied: “Absolutely, it was love at first sight.”
Mrs May said: “Likewise.”
The couple also touched on their sadness at never having children.
As a young candidate looking for a Tory seat, it was wrongly reported she was pregnant.
Mr May said: “My mum rang. She thought perhaps there was something we hadn’t told her.”
His wife added: “She was disappointed.”
Philip, who usually prefers to stay out of the limelight, also said that being married to the PM meant that work “inevitably intrudes”, such as when she decided to call an early election while on a walking holiday in Wales.
And Mrs May said that she didn’t expect Britain to stop taking part in Eurovision after we leave the EU, but that “in current circumstances, I’m not sure how many votes we’ll get!”
Philip, 59, who grew up near Liverpool, has worked in finance all his life and now works as an investment relationship manager for large US firm Capital International.
The PM has previously described him her “real rock”.
SOFA SO GOOD FASHION-WISE
THERESA May chose a £295 bouclé jacket from LK Bennett for The One Show’s sofa.
She teamed it with a pearl necklace, matching earrings and a dash of red lippie. The kitten heels stayed at home as she chose flat pointed £225 Russell & Bromley pumps.
Husband Philip, 59, had a blue and white gingham shirt, this season’s most popular pattern.
Body language expert Judi James said: “At times they moved, spoke and gesticulated in an identical way. This suggests high levels of rapport.”
- By Gabriele Dirvanauskas
Jeremy Corbyn and his wife Laura Alvarez have also been invited onto the show.
But the appearance was met with a hostile protest outside the BBC’s studios this evening.
Stand Up To Racism activists held banners and had to be held back while the PM’s car drove her inside.
Many waved EU flags and waved placards that said ‘Migrants and refugees welcome here’.
Earlier today Mrs May opened herself up to a long series of questions from a group of ordinary people for the first time yesterday.
The grilling from factory workers in Leeds was a bid by Tory election chiefs to tackle criticism that the PM’s campaign was being too tightly controlled and she wasn’t meeting enough of the public.
She then went on to the nearby constituency of Morley and Outwood, where Ed Balls was narrowly ousted by Tory Andrea Jenkyns two years ago.
Mrs May also again took her election fight deep into Labour held territory, campaigning in the previously safe Labour seat of York Central.
It was won two years ago by key Jeremy Corbyn ally Rachael Maskell, with a majority of 6,716.
But the PM again came under fire last night for refusing to rule out a hike in National Insurance contributions after the election.
Chancellor Philip Hammond was forced to abandon a disastrous Budget controversial bid to raise the tax for White Van Man self-employed workers.
Quizzed on her tax plans, the PM said: “It’s not our intention to increase the level of tax, but I’m not going to make any tax commitments that we are not absolutely sure we can keep”.
