A Kent MP has admitted his marriage almost buckled under the pressures of the job on his family life.

In a remarkably candid interview, Sir Roger Gale says he failed to see the warning signs when the endless daily workload piled up on wife Suzy.

The 73-year-old gave the rare insight into his personal life as he launched an impassioned defence of future MPs hiring family members ahead of the practice being banned.

Former party agent Suzy has worked for her husband throughout his 34 years as North Thanet MP, running his busy constituency office for up to £40,000 a year.

But it hasn’t always been plain sailing, as the veteran Tory admits.

“It works very well, by and large, but I wouldn’t say it’s perfect,” he said.

“It very nearly broke us at one point.

“Suz was working alone back then and far, far too hard. I didn’t see the warning signs until it was almost too late.

“I was working all the hours God sends as an MP and hadn’t even realised Suz was getting up in the middle of the night to write letters.

“I woke up once and saw the office light shining on the lawn. I went downstairs and asked Suzy ‘what the hell are you doing?’

“She was in tears and said she had to get the work done.

She looked at me and said ‘Rog, it’s got to the point where I see you as a source of work – not employment, work’.

“Within days I’d moved the office out of the house so she couldn’t work day and night. It made a huge difference.”

Sir Roger, whose office is now based in Birchington and staffed at a cost of £127,000 a year, says the couple quickly “got the show back on the road”.

“We learned a lesson and it was a painful lesson to learn,” he said.

“Fortunately, we have a very strong marriage.

“If it hadn’t been as strong I think it might well have broken us.”

Sir Roger’s constituency affairs are now looked after by his team of “girls” at Gale HQ - a description which last week sparked claims of sexism.

Together they field upwards of 400 emails a day covering as many as 100 cases, with Suz at her desk at 7am – even on Saturdays – overseeing the operation as office director.

“Suz was working alone back then and far, far too hard...I didn’t see the warning signs until it was almost too late - Sir Roger Gale

But after the next election in 2020 MPs will no longer be allowed to employ family members, with the ban rubber-stamped by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority this month.

Such contracts are “out of step with modern employment practice”, according to Ruth Evans, chairman of the expenses watchdog.

But Sir Roger, who will not be affected as the changes do not relate to those currently employed, has criticised the move.

“The MPs coming in in 2020 ought to have the right to employ members of their family if they wish to do so,” he said.

“Yes, there was a problem 10 years ago and one or two people were bending the system, but there’s no indication there’s a problem now.

“I’m not trying to discount the importance of tightening up the system when it needed tightening up, but it’s now change for the sake of change.

"Why should we stop those who find it works well?

“Where else do I find somebody who will bail out in the middle of the night if necessary, will go in on a Saturday morning, who will drop everything and go and see an elderly constituent in tears?

“Suz has been a family court magistrate, she’s a wise old girl, she knows her stuff.

“She’s heard every story known to man. She’s not a pushover, but she’s also very kind, sympathetic and understanding.

“If I’m away, she knows what I think, she knows how I think, she knows how I write, she knows my views on virtually every subject under the sun, including some you wouldn’t even wish to know about.

“If she has to give an answer on my behalf she’ll give it, and 100% of the time she’ll be right.

“Where else can I find somebody who knows me like that? Over 34 years in the job she’s got an acquired wisdom.”

Despite sharing a similar political outlook, Sir Roger admits he and Suzy, who have three children and five grandchildren, do not see eye-to-eye on everything.

“The only thing we don’t discuss is Brexit, at least certainly not before the vote,” he said.

“Suz was a Leaver and I was a Remainer. We decided it was better for matrimonial harmony to just park that one and agree to disagree.”

Sir Roger, who earns £74,000 a year, also dismisses claims MPs who employ family members are out to make a quick buck.

“People say ‘you’re making a lot of money out of this’, but we’re not actually,” he said.

“Suz earns, now, about the same as a middle-ranking secretary in London.

“We did not do this for the money and we don’t do it for the money now...We do it because it’s a vocation" - Sir Roger Gale

“When she came to work with me her salary was £17,500 a year as a highly qualified party agent. It went down to £8,500.

“When I was a TV director working for Thames Television my income was about £65,000...in 1983. That went down to £18,500.

“We did not do this for the money and we don’t do it for the money now. We do it because it’s a vocation.

“The bottom line is there will be a breed of person who won’t come into the job anymore.

“The more we go down that road, the worse it will be for parliament.”

Of the 650 current MPs, only 22 have been in office longer than Sir Roger, but he has no intention of slipping into a quiet retirement at his home in Preston, near Canterbury.

“We do this because we believe that at the margins we can make a difference,” he says, instinctively bringing his wife of 37 years into the equation.

“We will go on for as long as people want us, as long as we can physically and for as long as we think it’s worthwhile.

“You’ll probably have to carry me out in a box.”