Tweet
How to be a first husband
Diane Abbott
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Being a politician's wife is tricky. Being the husband of a leading female politician is worse. But Jamaica's Errald Miller belongs to the most exclusive (and challenging) club of all. He is a member of the 'First Husbands' club.
Diane Abbott
These are the men married to female party leaders and serving female prime ministers. They are a tiny, but growing group of heroic men.
The founding member of the 'First Husbands' club is Denis Thatcher, the husband of Margaret Thatcher - Britain's first female prime minister.
And for a long time he was its sole member. But nowadays there is Joachim Sauer, the husband of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel; Pentti Arajarvi, husband of Finland's President Tarja Halonen and Francis Hollande, the partner of Segolene Royale the Socialist candidate in the French presidential elections and could possibly become the next president of France. And, if Hilary Clinton is successful in gaining the Democratic presidential nomination, Bill Clinton will move back into the White House as 'First Husband'.
The 'First Husbands' club is growing. This is for a number of reasons. Partly it is because there are more women in politics. But it is also the case that in the past the handful of women who went into politics tended to be unmarried or widows. Now the modern female politician quite rightly insists on having it all: the good-looking, attentive husband; the children (Segolene Royal has four); and the top political job. Hence, the emergence of the 'First Husbands' club.
The big dilemma facing the 'First Husband' club is how exactly does a man conduct himself in this role? Traditionally top politicians' wives have confined themselves to nuzzling up adoringly to their husband in public and baking cookies.
Somehow, even in our feminist age, such behaviour does not seem entirely appropriate for a man. (It is quite cloying even for women).
One role model for them all is probably Margaret Thatcher's husband Denis.
The British press caricatured him (rather cruelly) as a golf-addicted, drink-loving hen-pecked husband. But he was actually Margaret Thatcher's bedrock. The Daily Telegraph in its obituary of him said, "Thatcher was a traditional husband, the master in his own house despite his wife's eminent role in the country. It was particularly remarkable, and a tribute to his enormous loyalty and integrity, that a man of Denis Thatcher's traditional outlook and generation could encourage his wife to shine. When Margaret
Thatcher finally stepped down from high office she said "I could never have been prime minister for more than 11 years without Denis at my side. He was a fund of shrewd advice and penetrating comment. And he very sensibly saved these for me rather than the outside world."
Errald Miller was already a successful businessman when he met his wife to be, Portia Simpson. Here, he walks by her side on March 30, 2006 the day she was sworn in as Jamaica's first female prime minister.
In this media-conscious age, one of the duties of the 'First Husband' is to look right. Just like a First Lady, his clothes sense will be scrutinised by the media. Denis Thatcher once made the front page of all the British newspapers wearing a strange pink turban on a trip to India with his wife.
But he generally dressed very conservatively. His daughter Carol said, "Never detract from your wife's fashion statement was his belief."
The French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal is always a miracle of French glamour and her husband is always the perfect understated foil.
It is also helpful if a 'First Husband' can provide financial support.
Denis Thatcher was a wealthy older businessman when he met and married the 23-year-old Margaret Roberts. He bankrolled her political career and made everything possible. Bill Clinton has used his star power and contacts to raise millions of pounds for Hilary. And, like Denis Thatcher, Errald Miller was already a successful businessman when he met his wife to be.
Probably the most important attribute of a 'First Husband' is loyalty. In France, Segolene Royal's husband sacrificed his political career to support his wife's presidential ambitions. Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions are well known, but you only have to see him on a platform with Hilary to know he genuinely adores her. He has thrown himself whole-heartedly into her campaign to be president. Denis Thatcher's loyalty to his wife never wavered. When she retired he said: "For 40 wonderful years I have been married to one of the greatest women the world has ever produced. All I could produce - small as it may be - was love and loyalty."
Errald Miller offers Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller the same support. She said in an interview: "My home is a happy home. Errald is my husband and my friend. I go home to his arms. I am confident in his love for me, and he knows that I love him dearly." She says her husband "is the rock that I lean on".
So, along with all his accomplishments in the corporate world, Errald Miller can add distinguished membership of the international 'First Husbands' club.
Diane Abbott
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Being a politician's wife is tricky. Being the husband of a leading female politician is worse. But Jamaica's Errald Miller belongs to the most exclusive (and challenging) club of all. He is a member of the 'First Husbands' club.
Diane Abbott These are the men married to female party leaders and serving female prime ministers. They are a tiny, but growing group of heroic men.
The founding member of the 'First Husbands' club is Denis Thatcher, the husband of Margaret Thatcher - Britain's first female prime minister.
And for a long time he was its sole member. But nowadays there is Joachim Sauer, the husband of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel; Pentti Arajarvi, husband of Finland's President Tarja Halonen and Francis Hollande, the partner of Segolene Royale the Socialist candidate in the French presidential elections and could possibly become the next president of France. And, if Hilary Clinton is successful in gaining the Democratic presidential nomination, Bill Clinton will move back into the White House as 'First Husband'.
The 'First Husbands' club is growing. This is for a number of reasons. Partly it is because there are more women in politics. But it is also the case that in the past the handful of women who went into politics tended to be unmarried or widows. Now the modern female politician quite rightly insists on having it all: the good-looking, attentive husband; the children (Segolene Royal has four); and the top political job. Hence, the emergence of the 'First Husbands' club.
The big dilemma facing the 'First Husband' club is how exactly does a man conduct himself in this role? Traditionally top politicians' wives have confined themselves to nuzzling up adoringly to their husband in public and baking cookies.
Somehow, even in our feminist age, such behaviour does not seem entirely appropriate for a man. (It is quite cloying even for women).
One role model for them all is probably Margaret Thatcher's husband Denis.
The British press caricatured him (rather cruelly) as a golf-addicted, drink-loving hen-pecked husband. But he was actually Margaret Thatcher's bedrock. The Daily Telegraph in its obituary of him said, "Thatcher was a traditional husband, the master in his own house despite his wife's eminent role in the country. It was particularly remarkable, and a tribute to his enormous loyalty and integrity, that a man of Denis Thatcher's traditional outlook and generation could encourage his wife to shine. When Margaret
Thatcher finally stepped down from high office she said "I could never have been prime minister for more than 11 years without Denis at my side. He was a fund of shrewd advice and penetrating comment. And he very sensibly saved these for me rather than the outside world."
Errald Miller was already a successful businessman when he met his wife to be, Portia Simpson. Here, he walks by her side on March 30, 2006 the day she was sworn in as Jamaica's first female prime minister. In this media-conscious age, one of the duties of the 'First Husband' is to look right. Just like a First Lady, his clothes sense will be scrutinised by the media. Denis Thatcher once made the front page of all the British newspapers wearing a strange pink turban on a trip to India with his wife.
But he generally dressed very conservatively. His daughter Carol said, "Never detract from your wife's fashion statement was his belief."
The French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal is always a miracle of French glamour and her husband is always the perfect understated foil.
It is also helpful if a 'First Husband' can provide financial support.
Denis Thatcher was a wealthy older businessman when he met and married the 23-year-old Margaret Roberts. He bankrolled her political career and made everything possible. Bill Clinton has used his star power and contacts to raise millions of pounds for Hilary. And, like Denis Thatcher, Errald Miller was already a successful businessman when he met his wife to be.
Probably the most important attribute of a 'First Husband' is loyalty. In France, Segolene Royal's husband sacrificed his political career to support his wife's presidential ambitions. Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions are well known, but you only have to see him on a platform with Hilary to know he genuinely adores her. He has thrown himself whole-heartedly into her campaign to be president. Denis Thatcher's loyalty to his wife never wavered. When she retired he said: "For 40 wonderful years I have been married to one of the greatest women the world has ever produced. All I could produce - small as it may be - was love and loyalty."
Errald Miller offers Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller the same support. She said in an interview: "My home is a happy home. Errald is my husband and my friend. I go home to his arms. I am confident in his love for me, and he knows that I love him dearly." She says her husband "is the rock that I lean on".
So, along with all his accomplishments in the corporate world, Errald Miller can add distinguished membership of the international 'First Husbands' club.