Which special relationships are really running the country? Emily Hill surveys the top political romances in Westminster.
The last time The Mace compiled this list, power couples had reached a zenith in the Palace of Westminster. From 2019 to 2022, as WhatsApp messages examined at the 2023 Covid-19 inquiry later revealed, the country was being run by Boris Johnson (in name) and his baby mama (in practice). “I was always told that Dom [Dominic Cummings] was the secret PM,” Simon Case, the head of the civil service, complained in a message. “How wrong they are. I look forward to telling select cttee tomorrow – ‘oh, f*** no, don’t worry about Dom, the real person in charge is Carrie [Johnson, née Symonds]’.”
Now, Labour are in power and determined to do things differently so perhaps it is no surprise that the greatest change in the politico-nuptial stakes is that the prime minister appears to be doing his damnedest not to be considered part of a “power couple” at all.
From Cherie Blair QC forgoing contraceptives on a trip to Balmoral to the inner workings of Akshata Sunak’s tax returns, speculation on the private affairs of prime ministerial wives once seemed inexhaustible. But aside from a scandal involving Labour donor Lord Alli spending £32,000 on the couple’s clothes, there has been significant vacant space where you’d expect column inches on the PM’s better half.
“Starmer’s family was and remains a core component of his political mythos and persona, yet his …
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