Election 2010- a battle of the wives?

Politics used to be an all-male arena. Traditionally, men ruled parliament, empire and anything in between. Those working in the political spectrum were suited, booted, wives muted. Roll on Margaret Thatcher, Condoleezza Rice and the 2010 British election and suddenly it’s not party leaders Gordon Brown and David Cameron gracing the front pages of both our tabloids and broadsheets but their other halves.

The election battle between Labour and Conservatives is, at present, very close in points-depending on which newspaper you read, either could take the lead in the polls ahead of May 6th. Hung parliament or not, in a struggle so close as this, it’s undeniable that even the smallest edge could swing voters. What with party policies often being criticised for ‘much and such the same’, maybe it’s not so surprising that those closest to the party leader’s sides are so closely scrutinised.
Alistair Darling? George Osborne? Neither is the Robin to Gordon or David’s Batman. In considering a leader the public want more than that- in a society where we can access minute-by-minute updates on the most mundane of matters, we want something tangible, something real. Something that shows a human edge to the party machine. For most of us politics is a vague and faraway notion, and its leaders are the ones we look to to translate the goings-on of Downing Street to real life.
The pair with the power to swing the vote?  Sam Cam and Sar Bro, the first wives who are so documented in the press they’ve earned their own monikers. 
Yes, it’s petty. Yes, it’s fairly sexist that the running repertoire on the pair seems to centre on their outfits, label of choice and shoes when both are incredibly successful in their own right. Our own female politicians at the top, from Harriet Harman to Theresa May, don’t receive nearly as much attention, despite their senior roles and powerful statuses.
But with a nation increasingly disinterested in voting, perhaps Samantha’s baby bumb and Sarah’s schmoozing with Naomi Campbell to raise money for Haiti is exactly what fuddy-duddy politics needs to catch the public’s attention, reel them in and generate an interest in party politics once more.