December 6th, 2005
Politicians’ wives and the goldfish bowl
Last night Channel showed a documentary called Married To The Prime Minister. Unsurprisingly, cameras followed Tony Blair’s wife Cherie and explored her life within - as she puts it - “the goldfish bowl” of Number 10 Downing Street. We were shown Cherie’s life as wife to the PM and all the duties that come with that and being a mother and QC. While it was mostly an indulgent puff piece, there were critics (broadcasters, journalists) on hand to point out that Cherie had not handled her time in the public eye all that well. She has been accused of cashing in on her status as the Prime Ministers wife and fallen foul of the media more than once.
The most revealing aspect of the programme involved Cherie looking back at the lives of all her predecessors and interviews with the ones still alive: Clarissa Eden (wife of Anthony), Mary Wilson (wife of Harold) and Norma Major (wife of John). It occured to me that Denis Thatcher was the only man to hold that position and that it was a pity he’s no longer around to give his views from a male perspective.
Today, David Cameron has been elected Tory Leader and unless the British public feel they can embrace Gordon Brown somewhere down the road, his wife Samantha may eventually find herself in Cherie’s shoes. There has been immediate interest in the Cameron’s wife and
The BBC already has a profile of her on the site. In no particular order, the piece points out that she is 34, the daughter of a Baronet, expectant mother of two (including a severely disabled child), director of a stationary company and supposedly related to Nell Gwyn (Charles II’s mistress).
All that sounds like the ideal Tory matriarch, except that apparently she was good friends with Tricky in college and has a tattoo of a dolphin.
Have the Tories ever been this close to cool?