Sarah and Michelle: The other meeting
By Jonathan Moore
They are two of the most powerful men in the world.
And as they meet for the first time as president and prime minister the eyes of the world will look towards Washington to try and ascertain what the future holds for the “special relationship” and its ramifications for global politics.
But behind the scenes, another meeting will be taking place between the women behind the men; Sarah Brown and Michelle Obama.
On the surface the wives of the leaders of the US and the UK could not be more distinct. Michelle is a sensation in the US, a fashion icon at the forefront of her husband’s recent election victory. Many say her visibility helped secure large numbers of votes for Barack from women and ethnic minority communities.
Sarah, on the other hand, paints a very different picture. The quiet, dutiful wife of Britain’s prime minister has never spoken in public about her family or home life, in fact she rarely speaks in public at all.
But behind the veneer of their public image the two ladies share a number of similarities.
Sarah Macaulay was born in 1963 to a Scottish father who worked in publishing and mother who was a teacher.
She spent the majority of her early childhood growing up in Tanzania until her parents split and she moved with her mother to London where she lived until she went to university.
After receiving a 2:1 in psychology from Bristol University she set up a PR firm, Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications, with her old school friend.
It was while providing public relations advice to the Labour party in the nineties that she met Gordon. According to friends they were an instant match.
In keeping with their future attitude to the public, the couple initially kept out of the public eye and it was not until the eve of Gordon’s first budget that they were seen together in public enjoying a meal.
Following the discovery that she was pregnant with their first child in 2001 she left work to concentrate on her family life.
Tragically the couple’s first child, daughter Jennifer Jane Brown, was to die of a brain haemorrhage just ten days after her birth and it was from this tragedy that Sarah propelled herself into her charity work.
She has since become the mother of two sons and takes pride in her role as a wife and mother who stays at home to look after her family and her husband’s interests.
Both she and Gordon have always felt their political and private lives should remain separate, and with her background in public relations it is tempting to imagine the whole image of a demure, diligent and dutiful politician’s wife is public image she chooses to project.
She is keen to ensure her clothing detracts nothing from her husband. She dresses in a way designed to be neither fabulous nor catastrophic but instead has a wardrobe aimed at presenting the image of a prime minister’s wife, classic, simple and with as few frills as possible.
In terms of public presentation Michelle Obama could not be more different.
Much of this has to do with the difference in roles between the prime minister’s wife and the first lady of the United States, whose position is enshrined in the administration of the White House complete with staff, office and agenda.
But before she became the first lady of the nation her background bore a great number of similarities to that of Sarah Brown.
She was born in Chicago’s notorious South Side in 1964, the daughter of a father who worked for the city’s water department and mother who stayed at home to raise her and her elder brother Craig.
After working her way through public schools she managed to secure a place at the prestigious Princeton University to study sociology and African-American studies. Following her graduation, she studied law at Harvard Law School.
She returned to Chicago after graduation and began work as a corporate lawyer for a Chicago law firm. Like Sarah Brown, it was through her career that she was to meet her future husband, who she married in 1992.
After a few years she decided corporate law was not for her and, as Sarah left PR to work for charity, she left her job for a new career which would help her give back to her community.
Working for the city of Chicago, she was a founding member of a group which helps to prepare young people for positions in public service. In 1996 she moved to the University of Chicago where she developed their first community service programme and increased participation in community service.
Both Michelle and Sarah rose to prominence from relatively humble beginnings. Off their own backs they managed to rise in their respective fields before leaving to pursue work where the rewards were more moral than material.
As the wives of prominent politicians they have both had to adjust to life in the public eye and managed to create a family life which presents them as dutiful and supportive spouses.
But it is in how they support their husbands that we see the great divergence between Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown.
While Sarah is happy – with the brief exception of the Labour party conference – to remain firmly in her husband’s shadow, Michelle has embraced her status as a fashion icon and female role model to young women in America keen to make a success of themselves.
While their husbands are busying themselves with the business of politics the first ladies of Britain and America will meet in less auspicious circumstances in a meeting with no politics attached.
It is thought they will together set out an itinerary for the spouses of world leaders meeting in London next month for the G20, hoping to find common ground over Africa and women’s rights.
But despite their similarities and differences there is one experience which will inevitably bind the two women more than any other, for they belong to very exclusive club of people who have to share their partner with the entire world.
