Helping ousted MPs deal with 'shock' loss

Eric Martlew, pictured with his wife Elsie, said losing your job suddenly can be a "great shock"

A former member of parliament is helping ousted MPs deal with the sudden loss of their job.

The Association of Former Members of Parliament mentoring scheme helps politicians deal with the emotional and practical impact of losing their seats.

Chairman Eric Martlew, who was Carlisle MP before standing down in 2010, said it involved 10 to 15 ex MPs who would be on hand to give advice.

He said it could come as a “great shock” when candidates were rejected by voters.

MPs who have lost in an election have four months to wind up their affairs, according to the parliamentary regulator.

Mr Martlew, who was the city's MP for 23 years, said: "I had a good friend who lost his seat unexpectedly in 2005 and the shock was hard for him and hard for me.

"He was told on Thursday that he had to have his office cleared by the following Monday.

"Then you've got all your stuff and your employees, who were expecting to carry on.

"You've got to sort out their redundancy, sort out any leases. It's very difficult.”

He said former MPs can struggle to adjust to “civilian life” and find a job with a similar salary.

Candidates rejected by voters have four months to wind up their affairs

"People who've been cabinet ministers, they're going to find jobs, but backbench members of parliament, especially if you're on the opposition side, nobody's going to want you to be a lobbyist, or anything like that," he said.

Mr Martlew’s said his exit from Parliament was at a time of his choosing, when he was ready for "semi-retirement".

He said his exit opened the door for his wife Elsie to continue her career in local politics, which she said had proved problematic when he was an MP.

Eric Martlew, pictured in 1987 when he was elected, said adjusting to "civilian life" was hard

Mrs Martlew said: "I was deputy leader of Carlisle City Council and it became quite difficult for me to disagree with the national Labour Party policies.

"The press would always latch on to it and it would come out in the press as 'Elsie Martlew, wife of' and that really irritated me.

"I came off the council in the early 90s and didn't go back on until Eric retired and it did give me some freedom, because he was known as Elsie’s husband then, which was a good thing."