Led Sarah Brown Interview

20 POLITICS

gairrhydd | [email protected] MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28 20099

A Q&A with Sarah Brown We all know Sarah Brown as the wife to PM Gordon Brown. But what else is there to the First Spouse? gair rhydd finds out... Laura Dunn Politics Writer LD: Most people know you as the spouse of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. But can you tell us about your background, and your former career in PR? What interested you in the public relations industry? SB: I have a BSc degree in Psychology from Bristol University and I’d always wanted to study that because what most interests me is people – how we communicate with each other, how we can support each other, how we can collaborate to get good things done. That’s what took me into PR – the chance to help some of the great British museums and art galleries and a range of fascinating charities and social entrepreneurs. They were all doing ground-breaking things, and it was an honour to help them tell other people about the ways they were changing things for the better. LD: As the wife of the PM, what public duties are you expected to perform? SB: Before anything else I always make my family my first priority – making sure that our privacy is protected and our family life is as normal as it can possibly be. Then there is the public side – supporting Gordon in any way I can when he represents the country and celebrates all the amazing things in it. In the last few months I have travelled with him when he spoke to the Royal College of Nurses to thank them for everything they’ve done for our brilliant NHS, and we were really proud to participate in the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics, something we are both passionate about. We’ve a lot of causes close to our hearts, and I’ve been really pleased to be able to continue the tradition, started by Cherie Blair, of having a weekly reception for a different charity to come and make use of the stunning State Rooms at 10 Downing Street (there is a tour on the website to see the rooms for any history fans!) LD: You are heavily involved in charities, particularly those concerned with the wellbeing of women and children. Could you tell me about some of the lesser known charities you are involved with? SB: I have been committed for a long time to a number of charities that benefit women and children’s health in the UK and around the world, but

I also have some other interests and commitments too. I set up my own charity PiggyBankKids to focus on creating new opportunities for vulnerable children and young people in the UK who would otherwise miss out. I am also the Patron of the UK women’s health charity Wellbeing of Women and the international campaign to save the lives of mothers in pregnancy and childbirth – the White Ribbon Alliance. I sit on the international advisory board of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and I am Co-Chair of the Leadership Group on Maternal and Newborn Mortality working with Bience Gawanas, Social Affairs Commissioner of the African Union to support the global Maternal Mortality Campaign to end unnecessary deaths. In addition, I am one of the patrons of the domestic violence charity, Women’s Aid and was instrumental in setting up their corporate development board. I support the brilliant and innovative education charity SHINE Trust as a patron speaking and I am also a very active Patron of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres – these are special places designed by extraordinary architects on the site of hospitals that provide a place to go and get non-clinical advice and support during cancer treatment and for their families. I am a Patron too of the CBI First Women awards that rewards women who have been successful in British manufacturing, services and finance. I would love to see more women in the boardrooms of British companies – only 11% of British FTSE companies have women on the board – even Parliament does a whole lot better than that! Aside from these I support other individual initiatives contributing to a number of magazine and newspaper awards scheme to reward outstanding individuals who make a great contribution to society. I have tried to really focus my attention on a few key areas – women’s issues, children’s rights and health. There are just so many deserving causes out there, it would be easy to do a little bit for many more things, but I hope I make the biggest difference by picking a few areas and giving them my all.

est in maternal and child health issues. A visit I made as a student to India also made a big impression: once you’ve seen firsthand the effects of grinding poverty and its impact on women and their families you can’t ever forget it. My commitment to the Maternal Mortality Campaign has centred round the need to gain greater international recognition and driving political will to prevent over 500,000 mothers dying each year in pregnancy and childbirth. This goes hand in hand with infant survival, better global healthcare, and the courageous drives to eradicate malaria and polio and to tackle the tragedy of HIV/AIDS. I take a strong interest in the Education for All initiative and just what bringing the 75 million children currently without schooling into education would mean. Our shared passion for Africa and development was also one of the things Gordon and I loved most when we first got together – so I’ll always be grateful to Tanzania for the role it has played in the most important bits of my life. LD: The G20 summit in April was a success for all those involved, and particularly memorable as it was the Obama’s first visit to the UK. What were they like, and do you have any special recollections of their visit? SB: I hosted the London G20 spouse programme and invited the G20 spouses to join a number of leading British women for dinner at Downing Street. The guest list included author J K Rowling, White Ribbon Alliance Ambassador Naomi Campbell, Olympic Gold Medallist Dame Kelly Holmes and Welsh actress and scriptwriter Ruth Jones. I hope the connections that all the women formed that evening all provide useful contacts for the future in all kinds of different ways as the G20 spouses expand

LD: What was it like to spend part of your childhood in Tanzania? SB: My childhood memories of beautiful East Africa have had a big impact on my inter-

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their roles to help others in their own countries and globally. I also hosted US First Lady Michelle Obama on a visit to the Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in London and was able to share time with her talking about health and wellbeing. It was a great opportunity to continue a new friendship that started when I visited Washington DC shortly after her arrival at the White House.

dence from them round about kicking out time…

LD: It has been extensively publicised that you use the social networking site Twitter. What first attracted you to the site and what do you particularly like about it?

SB: London Fashion Week is my favourite part of the British fashion calendar and holds its own amongst the international fashion buyers and media. We are a fantastic centre of creativity with some of the most exciting established talent now found all over the world and an array of emerging new British talent. Our fashion colleges are extraordinary and among the best in the world (if not the best) and our young graduates ready to work in all parts of the fashion industry and media are going to make enormous waves globally. London Fashion Week showcases much of the best of this talent and this year celebrates its 25th anniversary with the return of Burberry, Jonathan Saunders, Matthew Williamson, Antonio Berardi, and Stella McCartney testing the UK runway with her sportswear alongside London favourites like Erdem, Giles Deacon and Alice Temperley. I can’t wait!

SB: A friend introduced me to Twitter when I explained I wanted to find a way to open up the details of what I do without wanting to sign up to a big commitment like writing a regular blog. 140 characters at a time suits me perfectly, and Twitter works for me as a great way of sharing details of campaigns I am working on and providing better transparency about how I spend my days. I’ve met so many great people through it – including some really lovely s t u dents. I seem to get most of my correspon-

LD: Last year you hosted a reception celebrating the British fashion industry. How do you think it rivals the other industries (New York, Paris etc), and what do you think it offers that the others don’t? Who are your favourite designers?