Working wife not seen often

The leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party "overstated" the amount of paid work his wife did for his party, his former press secretary has told a New Zealand newspaper.

Britain's parliamentary watchdog is investigating allegations that Iain Duncan Smith wrongly put his wife on his payroll.

Mr Duncan Smith has said his wife was paid £18,000 ($50,600) as a part-time diary secretary and that she worked all her hours.

But Belinda McCammon, who recently returned home to New Zealand after working for Mr Duncan Smith as press secretary during his leadership campaign and as media organiser in his office, said Betsy Duncan Smith was rarely in the office.

"She came in once every two or three weeks, but not for the diary," Ms McCammon told the Sunday Star-Times from Queenstown.

"She would come into the office if she was in town for an engagement. Then she would discuss the diary with the other diary secretary - but that was more in a role of checking to see whether she was available for anything, or if anything clashed with the school holidays or things like that."

Ms McCammon said she had not known that Mrs Duncan Smith was being paid, processing work or "doing anything out of the norm of what is normally the role of a politician's spouse".

Ms McCammon, 29, who has not spoken to British media about the allegations, said she had not given evidence to the Mawer inquiry.

"I'm quite content to be hidden away in New Zealand and let the stalwarts of the Tory party do the infighting," she said.

Mrs Duncan Smith might have worked from home during the time she was being paid, she said.

After the election campaign the Duncan Smiths moved to a family home about 1 1/2 hours' drive from London.

"She couldn't have come in every day. I'm sure she did do a lot of work from home," Ms McCammon said.

Some Tory MPs are unhappy with Mr Duncan Smith's leadership.

- NZPA