The role of political spouse has changed completely

The changing nature of political power was neatly demonstrated in Westminster yesterday. In the House of Lords, members debated Labour’s plans to purge parliament of its hereditary peers. Yet down the corridor in the Commons, that same principle seems alive and well. Ten Labour MPs are descended from former members, including scions of the Benn, Kinnock and Chamberlain families. The trend is certainly a cross-party one: a tenth of all Conservative MPs have had family members serve as Honourable Members. They include Victoria Atkins, Andrew Mitchell, Jerome Mayhew and Bernard Jenkin, whose fathers served as ministers under Mrs Thatcher.

But the shift between the last parliament and this is the number of ministers whose spouses are directly involved in politics themselves. The Sun has helpfully done a guide which reports that ‘an unprecedented 28 ministers are related to each other, married to other Labour politicians or have their partner also on the public purse.’