The first spouse problem

Clive flags up Maureen Dowd’s entertaining column on how the Americans would react to having Carla Bruni as First Lady. But on top of the comedy value there’s a serious issue to be grappled with. From now on, it is going to more common than not that a president or a prime minister’s spouse works. This means there’s an urgent need to work out some set of rules about what is OK for them to do and what is not. Otherwise, these spouses are going to constantly be accused, and often unfairly, of exploiting their position.

The problem is compounded by the fact that a number of potential ‘First Ladies’ work in areas where there are obvious potential pitfalls. For instance, John McCain’s wife runs a beer distribution business that lobbies the government from time to time  . Samantha Cameron is creative director of Smythsons, and one can already hear the predictable complaints if she carries a Smythson bag at an event she is attending as the Prime Minister’s wife.