Banned, wife of Tory MP over the limit on school run

THE wife of a Conservative MP has been banned from the road after being caught by police while drink-driving on the school run.

Victoria Sturdy, who is married to Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer, failed a breath test after being stopped with her children on board her vehicle.

Officers had been tipped off by ‘anonymous calls’ from concerned members of the public that the 44-year-old had been drinking and was on her way to pick the youngsters up from lessons.

Sturdy, who is paid around £20,000 from the public purse to work as a part-time secretary for her husband, was arrested and taken to a police station.

Tests indicated that the alcohol level in her blood was more than one-and-a-half times the legal limit.

This week Sturdy – who has a son, George, aged 14, and 12-year-old daughter, Florence, with the MP – admitted drink-driving when she appeared before magistrates in York. She was banned from the road for 15 months and fined £398.

Yesterday Mr Sturdy, who has lobbied parliament for lower taxes on beer to protect the UK’s brewing industry, said his wife ‘apologises unreservedly for her actions and fully accepts the decision of the court’.

Katy Varlow, prosecuting, said officers pulled over Mrs Sturdy in York, on the afternoon of September 10.

A breath test showed she had 136 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood – the legal limit is 80.

Tony Eastwood, defending, told magistrates Sturdy felt ‘genuine remorse’ for her actions. He said she had been drinking the previous day until the early hours but had not had any alcohol for more than 14 hours when she was stopped. She had assumed she would be fine to drive.