Daniel Finkelstein has written about the need for Tories & Lib Dems to find ways to meet more socially, to make spaces in which they can talk & discuss ideas, to explore common ground, to knock some of the edges off the notion that they are competing political tribes.
It will be fascinating to see if the wives play any part in this, by reviving to some extent the tradition of political hostessing. The wives of the prime minister & his deputy of course have plenty enough to keep them busy as things are, but they must have had social lives before their husbands assumed their current roles, there need not be any much greater burden other than a tweaking of the guest lists. But thing s could get very sticky if Mrs Cameron & Mrs Clegg find that they cannot get on together at all.
Those who were saddened by the notion that Sarah Brown abandoned a successful career to become a mere wife & mother missed the point. She may have lost an independent source of cash income but she gained an awful lot from her position, which could even be regarded as an investment should she ever want to resume her outside career in public relations. Some women decide to return to university to improve their qualifications – a course for which they have to pay their own fees. And of course as far as job satisfaction goes, she had a tough challenge in the use of her skills to improve her husband’s public image. There are many ways to live a full & satisfying life which do not involve being tied to a contract of employment or the whims of paying clients.
The leaving of Downing Street was a triumph in terms of the image presented to the world & the gracious wording of her husband’s speech; it may even have helped him enormously to appreciate that by no means everything was lost. And if I am being a tad cynical, I would say that that campaign is ongoing – the picture of the children leaving Downing Street was a first in their fiercely protected lives, but there were more photos in Monday’s papers of them going to church with their father.
Do we Do God now? All three party leaders were reported to have gone to church on the Sunday before the election, even though Nick Clegg famously told Nicky Campbell, live on air, that he does not believe in god, & David Cameron has described his faith as one that grows hotter and colder by moments.
It will be fascinating to see if the wives play any part in this, by reviving to some extent the tradition of political hostessing. The wives of the prime minister & his deputy of course have plenty enough to keep them busy as things are, but they must have had social lives before their husbands assumed their current roles, there need not be any much greater burden other than a tweaking of the guest lists. But thing s could get very sticky if Mrs Cameron & Mrs Clegg find that they cannot get on together at all.
Those who were saddened by the notion that Sarah Brown abandoned a successful career to become a mere wife & mother missed the point. She may have lost an independent source of cash income but she gained an awful lot from her position, which could even be regarded as an investment should she ever want to resume her outside career in public relations. Some women decide to return to university to improve their qualifications – a course for which they have to pay their own fees. And of course as far as job satisfaction goes, she had a tough challenge in the use of her skills to improve her husband’s public image. There are many ways to live a full & satisfying life which do not involve being tied to a contract of employment or the whims of paying clients.
The leaving of Downing Street was a triumph in terms of the image presented to the world & the gracious wording of her husband’s speech; it may even have helped him enormously to appreciate that by no means everything was lost. And if I am being a tad cynical, I would say that that campaign is ongoing – the picture of the children leaving Downing Street was a first in their fiercely protected lives, but there were more photos in Monday’s papers of them going to church with their father.
Do we Do God now? All three party leaders were reported to have gone to church on the Sunday before the election, even though Nick Clegg famously told Nicky Campbell, live on air, that he does not believe in god, & David Cameron has described his faith as one that grows hotter and colder by moments.
All three of our party leaders are however being very coy about the precise nature of their child care arrangements. It often seems as if they manage without any extra help at all, with the fathers doing their fair share of getting up in the night, preparing breakfast or doing the school run.
On the evening that the prime minister resigned I heard one radio commentator say that the audience with the Queen would be a less formal affair than usual because of the presence of those two small boys, but a press report the next day said that the two children were ‘handed over to a nanny’ at the gates of Downing Street while their parents went off in the car to Buckingham Palace. With both Mrs Clegg & Mrs Cameron (until recently) in full time employment & husbands who are often away from home, that simply cannot be the whole story, there must be some outside help which can NOT of course be financed by an MP's expenses. The coyness may quite properly said to be none of our business, even simple enquiry being an intrusion on the children’s right to privacy, but I suspect that it represents a parental desire to avoid some kind of political embarrassment, intrusion into or speculation about family finances or comment along the lines of ‘It’s all very well for some.’
On the evening that the prime minister resigned I heard one radio commentator say that the audience with the Queen would be a less formal affair than usual because of the presence of those two small boys, but a press report the next day said that the two children were ‘handed over to a nanny’ at the gates of Downing Street while their parents went off in the car to Buckingham Palace. With both Mrs Clegg & Mrs Cameron (until recently) in full time employment & husbands who are often away from home, that simply cannot be the whole story, there must be some outside help which can NOT of course be financed by an MP's expenses. The coyness may quite properly said to be none of our business, even simple enquiry being an intrusion on the children’s right to privacy, but I suspect that it represents a parental desire to avoid some kind of political embarrassment, intrusion into or speculation about family finances or comment along the lines of ‘It’s all very well for some.’
