A personal view

Isn't the tweet Fraser Nelson's words, rather than Janice Turner's?

Getinonabit, Corbyn has a wife, his third wife

Who is a business woman in her own right but possibly does not see the need to broadcast it.

Why should she have a need to broadcast it Jen?

Exactly, Annie, she shouldn't need to.
There should also not need to be a comment about her walking so many steps behind Corbyn by Fraser Nelson as if it's somehow a crime.
I find the whole tone of the tweet to be quite nasty.

By the way, I'm much more likely to come across Corbyn's wife's products than Cameron's.

Given she wasn't a political person, I thought Sam was a good Tory PM's wife. She brought up their children out of the limelight and was a good hostess when required. She also supported a lot of charities as the PM's wife that probably didn't make the news. She also continued to work (albeit part time) after her husband was made PM (not sure how much time she was able to actually work through). I think she played the role she 'trained' for very well and admired her by the time she was leaving Downing Street.

I also admired Sarah Brown very much and Cherie Blaire to a lesser extent when they were the wife of the PM.

I don't know why we haven't had a female Labour Leader or PM. It's an interesting question, but I'm not worried about the answer. For me and my family, Margaret Thatcher was the worst PM of our time. Theresa May I have more respect for right now, but it's very early days. That respect is partly because of how she conducts herself i.e. there's no whiff of scandal around her.

Let's face it, the Tories didn't have many candidates who were untainted that way.

Anniebach I do not believe, and did not suggest that a woman - or man - involved in politics should give it up if they marry a more succesful politician. However I do believe they should continue their political life on their own skills and abilities only and not ride on the coat tails of their spouse.

Mrss Cameron, Brown, Blair, Messieurs Thatcher and May, none of them had/have political careers so I see no reason why they should play any part in the political process when their spouse becomes Prime Minister.

Most of them had successful careers of their own before their spouses became PM and I also think they should be able to continue these careers without having to subsume them to a politically successful spouse. This is something that, regrettably several of them, including Mrs Cameron, had to do,

As PM spouses are being discussed I remembered Mary Wilson was a poet, so I Googled her. Amazed to find she made 100, does anyone know if she is still alive? Obviously a talented woman who stayed well in the background. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wilson,_Baroness_Wilson_of_Rievaulx

Mrs Blair stood as a labour candidate before her husband did , I consider that being politically active

Iwonder what would have happened if she'd been selected instead? No Iraq war?
Must be a novel in there somewhere.

I was listening to an interview yesterday [I think it was with Andrew Neil] and one of the people being interviewed [according to the S.O.] was a lawyer. It was fascinating listening to the way he answered the questions; so different to the politicians with journalistic backgrounds. It isn't something that occurred to me until the people I spoke to pre referendum called the leave lot 'a bunch of journalists'. Didn't the Blairs have to make a decision as to which one would be the politician? I still think that Barbara Castle should have been our first woman PM. A remarkable woman imo.

Both the Blairs were in law and both involved in Labour Party politics, she being more to the left than her husband . She stood in a safe Tory seat and lost . They did reach a decision on who should continue in politics, she stayed in law and he went into politics

And I don't agree that a wife should melt into the background to support her husband .

On a much smaller scale , when I married we agreed I would continue with my protests even though married to a police office .

I do not think anyone has suggested that a wife (or husband, why always wives?) should melt into the background but outside politics husband's and wives generally do not start putting their oar into each others careers, unless they choose the same one, when that does occasionally happen.

I have attended the occasional work related do with DH and he has done the same for me, but generally he has gone about his engineering without needing me to join him on overseas trips or get in the way when he went offshore and certainly I was never asked for my opinion on any project he was working on. It worked the other way round. he was never asked his opinion on my work, nor did he contribute to work meetings.

i see no reason why politics should be any different.

I think it is different with politics, if I had to vote on a matter which could affect the lives - for good or not - it is natural to discuss it to the person closest to you. As for oversea trips, it's what most countries leaders do