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UK election becomes a family affair
Source: Agencies |
April 11, 2010, Sunday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
ONE wants to dispel the notion that he's half-man, half-machine. The other wants to banish the notion that he's too posh for office. So in a break with tradition, the men fighting to become Britain's prime minister are turning to their wives for help.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his challenger David Cameron both have image problems that they're tackling in a way the British electorate isn't used to seeing: by dispatching their spouses to the campaign trail.
The Labour Party's Brown is seen by some as a cold, distant grouch. Enter Sarah Brown, his articulate and approachable spouse, to add a warm, human dimension.
Conservative leader Cameron - fighting some voters' perception that he is a spoiled rich kid from Britain's most elite private school - has deployed his sunny wife Samantha to soften his "posh boy" reputation, despite the fact she herself is a distant relative of King Charles II.
The result is a British campaign in which the candidates' spouses are in the spotlight as never before, giving the race a bit more of a US flavor, reminding voters of how Michelle Obama's appeal helped her husband move into the Oval Office.
For an unpredictable election in which polls suggest no one party may win an outright majority, the candidates are using every advantage they can muster.
Many of the millions of undecided voters targeted by the campaigns are women, who worry about what the ballot will mean to their families.
"Using their wives is a cheap way of trying to appeal to women," said Steven Fielding of Nottingham University who recently conducted a poll among working class women. "They try to make their partners out to be nice family men and husbands but this isn't a way to connect with working class women who may vote. A lot of these women are just trying to make ends meet."
Sarah Brown is a former public relations executive who is traveling the campaign trail with her husband. She provides regular updates on Twitter - she has more than 1.1 million followers - allowing a peek behind No. 10's famous black door.
She provides an open counterpoint to Brown, who was once accused of ignoring a question from concerned mothers on what his favorite cookie is. (The eventual answer: anything with chocolate, but he's trying to cut down.) She, on the other hand, draws a picture of a cozy home life, telling the world how they watch movies, dote on their two young sons, host drinks for their bodyguards and their families, and go for walks together.
"The issue that Brown is trying to overcome is the impression he's half-man, half-machine," said Andrew Hawkins of polling firm ComRes, "and for David Cameron to demonstrate that he is principled and there's some substance under the style."
Samantha Cameron is also trying to show her husband as a normal guy - despite the fact that her background is even more aristocratic than his. Like many of the voters her husband is wooing, she's a working mother - the creative director of an upmarket retailer - who looks after two kids and has another on the way.
But things don't always go to plan: SamCam, as she's known in the tabloids, was chided in the British press for popping in to visit her father, Sir Reginald Sheffield, just before a campaign stop last week. The Times reported that "her attempts at classlessness were slightly undermined" when she had lunch at his 3,000-acre Thealby Hall estate.
Justine Roberts, the founder of Mumsnet, a parenting Web site that attracts a large, vocal audience - and put the cookie question to Brown - said the notion that women will vote for a candidate because they have an affinity with his wife is insulting.
"The general prevailing view on Mumsnet is it's a bit patronizing to say women only vote when they roll out the leaders' wives, and they're not interested in the meatier issues," she said. "Obviously, if his wife is lovely, it might make some think he's human after all."
The extent to which Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron are participating is a change for British political spouses. Margaret Thatcher's husband, Denis, wanted nothing more than to be left alone. The release of recent correspondence showed that he had to cancel dinner with fellow rugby fans for a state occasion, sighing "what I do for the party." Norma Major, wife of Tory prime minister John Major, also shunned the spotlight. Cherie Blair, a high-flying lawyer, was often at her husband Tony's side, but was known for sniping at his rivals - and the media - rather than campaigning.
First wives often add a touch of elan to their mates, such as Obama and glamorous French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
But sometimes it doesn't help the leader's popularity - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ratings are in the basement.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his challenger David Cameron both have image problems that they're tackling in a way the British electorate isn't used to seeing: by dispatching their spouses to the campaign trail.
The Labour Party's Brown is seen by some as a cold, distant grouch. Enter Sarah Brown, his articulate and approachable spouse, to add a warm, human dimension.
Conservative leader Cameron - fighting some voters' perception that he is a spoiled rich kid from Britain's most elite private school - has deployed his sunny wife Samantha to soften his "posh boy" reputation, despite the fact she herself is a distant relative of King Charles II.
The result is a British campaign in which the candidates' spouses are in the spotlight as never before, giving the race a bit more of a US flavor, reminding voters of how Michelle Obama's appeal helped her husband move into the Oval Office.
For an unpredictable election in which polls suggest no one party may win an outright majority, the candidates are using every advantage they can muster.
Many of the millions of undecided voters targeted by the campaigns are women, who worry about what the ballot will mean to their families.
"Using their wives is a cheap way of trying to appeal to women," said Steven Fielding of Nottingham University who recently conducted a poll among working class women. "They try to make their partners out to be nice family men and husbands but this isn't a way to connect with working class women who may vote. A lot of these women are just trying to make ends meet."
Sarah Brown is a former public relations executive who is traveling the campaign trail with her husband. She provides regular updates on Twitter - she has more than 1.1 million followers - allowing a peek behind No. 10's famous black door.
She provides an open counterpoint to Brown, who was once accused of ignoring a question from concerned mothers on what his favorite cookie is. (The eventual answer: anything with chocolate, but he's trying to cut down.) She, on the other hand, draws a picture of a cozy home life, telling the world how they watch movies, dote on their two young sons, host drinks for their bodyguards and their families, and go for walks together.
"The issue that Brown is trying to overcome is the impression he's half-man, half-machine," said Andrew Hawkins of polling firm ComRes, "and for David Cameron to demonstrate that he is principled and there's some substance under the style."
Samantha Cameron is also trying to show her husband as a normal guy - despite the fact that her background is even more aristocratic than his. Like many of the voters her husband is wooing, she's a working mother - the creative director of an upmarket retailer - who looks after two kids and has another on the way.
But things don't always go to plan: SamCam, as she's known in the tabloids, was chided in the British press for popping in to visit her father, Sir Reginald Sheffield, just before a campaign stop last week. The Times reported that "her attempts at classlessness were slightly undermined" when she had lunch at his 3,000-acre Thealby Hall estate.
Justine Roberts, the founder of Mumsnet, a parenting Web site that attracts a large, vocal audience - and put the cookie question to Brown - said the notion that women will vote for a candidate because they have an affinity with his wife is insulting.
"The general prevailing view on Mumsnet is it's a bit patronizing to say women only vote when they roll out the leaders' wives, and they're not interested in the meatier issues," she said. "Obviously, if his wife is lovely, it might make some think he's human after all."
The extent to which Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron are participating is a change for British political spouses. Margaret Thatcher's husband, Denis, wanted nothing more than to be left alone. The release of recent correspondence showed that he had to cancel dinner with fellow rugby fans for a state occasion, sighing "what I do for the party." Norma Major, wife of Tory prime minister John Major, also shunned the spotlight. Cherie Blair, a high-flying lawyer, was often at her husband Tony's side, but was known for sniping at his rivals - and the media - rather than campaigning.
First wives often add a touch of elan to their mates, such as Obama and glamorous French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
But sometimes it doesn't help the leader's popularity - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ratings are in the basement.
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