Nadine Dorries says she went out on dates so she could eat while working as a trainee nurse 

Nadine Dorries has revealed that she used to go on dates to get free meals because she was paid so little as a trainee nurse.

In a candid interview, the former culture secretary said one of her dates was her future husband Paul Dorries.

Mrs Dorries left school at 16 and began training as a nurse at 18, but was shocked at the pittance she was paid.

Nadine Dorries has revealed that she used to go on dates to get free meals because she was paid so little as a trainee nurse

‘It was not eating money,’ she said, revealing how she and friends would accept dates to get a free meal.

She would go with them to the Sunrise Restaurant, a Chinese eatery in Warrington, near where she grew up, ‘literally so you could get a Chinese meal and someone would buy the food for you’.

Nadine Dorries and her ex-husband Paul

Asked by Parliament’s The House magazine whether any of the dates were good, she said: ‘No. Actually, no, I’m not going to say that.

‘They were all gentlemen… Paul [her future husband] was actually one of my dates to the Sunrise Restaurant.’

The couple began dating in 1976 and married in 1984, but split up in 2012. She said: ‘Politics kind of bust us up a bit. It was just horrendously difficult. I moved down to London for work. He was at home. It just took its toll.’

They later reunited but Mr Dorries was diagnosed with bowel cancer in February 2019 and died in June that year.