Such thoughts came to mind today when I read the Evening Standard’s confessional interview with Sally Bercow, wife of Speaker John and prospective Labour candidate.
I can’t claim to know Sally well, at least not nowadays. However I did work quite closely with her for a number of months during her self-proclaimed ‘ladette‘ ad agency days.
I’m sure Sally has changed a lot since the mid-to-late 90s. Who hasn’t? However to judge from the interview – not just the content but also the rationale behind it – it would seem that much about her has changed very little.
The sort of self awareness and brutal honesty she displays in the interview are, of course, qualities to be welcomed at a time when British politics is hardly overflowing with either. And Westminster hacks must be beside themselves with excitement this evening at the prospect of having such a provocatively outspoken and interesting occupant of the Speaker’s Apartment (if not of the Speaker’s Chair).
Sally’s almost painfully honest admission of being ‘an argumentative, stroppy drunk, picking arguments…‘ brings memories of several, otherwise long-forgotten, business dinners flooding back. In those days, to find oneself seated next to Sally for the evening was, to say the least, a bitter-sweet sensation. On the upside, there would be no shortage of lively conversation and she was never less than entertaining company. However, after a few drinks no subject - and nobody - would be spared her whiplash tongue. I still squirm at the memory of the appalled faces of her more senior agency colleagues as she launched into yet another character assassination of a major client (more often than not to their face).
All of which brings me to the question of why Sally decided to open up in this way and reveal more dirty linen than I imagine our esteemed Speaker would have been aware himself, at least until very recently.
Perhaps we should take at face value her explanation that she simply felt obliged to embark on a ‘clearing of the decks’ exercise as a way of drawing the sting out of any future kiss-and-tell type revelations that might emerge to embarrass the Bercows and their blossoming political careers.
Sally freely admits to a string of past one night stands and it was arguably therefore a question not so much of if, as when, one or more of these liaisons would come back to haunt this now very public figure. Entertaining as I found today’s interview I cannot help but think, however, that what was clearly a very considered and planned reputation-management exercise may end up having precisely the opposite effect.
On the one hand she may well be successful in taking the wind out of the sails of any individual ex-lover on the make - at first glance then a prudent PR strategy. I’m not so sure though. The additional exposure could very easily now open the floodgates for more old friends and acquaintances (yes really!) to come forward with previously long-forgotten recollections and stories; equally the media has now had a taste of blood and I would be very surprised if it did not start sniffing around for even meatier stories. A simultaneous increase in the supply of, and demand for, such material seems to me to be a potentially explosive combination.
The word explosive is, I believe, quite apt in this case because Sally always was something of a loose cannon. Rather ironic then that Sally’s careers of choice to date have been Public Relations and Politics - both professions, at least in theory, demanding a far greater level of discretion and judgment than she appears to possess.
All this said it would be a mistake to underestimate this very formidable lady. Anyone who is prepared voluntarily to subject themselves, and their family, to this level of public scrutiny clearly possesses both a strong will and steely ambition.
This evening Speaker Bercow will - I’m sure not for the first time – be wondering exactly what he has let himself in for. The rest of us are going to have tremendous fun finding out.
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