Sasha Swire • 5 juli 2012

• Sasha Swire (1963) is de echtgenote van de voormalige (conservatieve) minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, Hugo Swire. Zij is de schrijver van Diary of an MP's Wife (2020).

5 July
Last night we had a small party at Walpole Street to celebrate my mother's OBE [Order of the British Empire]. Good for her, and well deserved. Very proud. Hague turns up with Arminka (Helić), which is good of them, and Paddy Pantsdown, who M has a love-hate relationship with, stemming back to the Bosnian conflict, in which they were both involved.
I interrupt the financiers Ronald Cohen and Neil Record. 'Are you two commiserating?' Yes, they say, things are really tough out there financially. I tell them it's tough for me too, you know, as a wife in politics. I say I'm either getting a garden or a lover, but I haven't decided which. I'm simply fed up of being left alone by my husband. Ronnie says he might be able to help!
I then corner my husband and say, 'You better call your mistress and tell her you are having dinner with me instead tonight.' That's how desperate I am for company: I am even prepared to go to the House of Commons on a vote night and eat slop.
Poor David, that old devil called Europe is here again. The party keep telling him to have a referendum. He is starting to look vulnerable, just like Major did all those years ago. Worse, Dave, unlike Sir John, hasn't even won an election and he has the Liberal Democrats to deal with in government, not to mention UKIP outside it. And nearly three-quarters of the party members back withdrawal from the EU, as do a growing number of Conservative MPs. And what about outside the cabinet? Boris Johnson, George's potential rival — and the Prime Minister's too — is beating the drum. Who would ever want to be in David's shoes? Europe always tries to bring down Conservative leaders. He's right, though: how on earth can we decide when we have no idea what a new Europe will look like? A referendum commitment now will drag us into a fight with UKIP and the electorate might use it as an opportunity to punish him for other matters. Regarding renegotiation, well, the Germans might just tell him to piss off and not waste their time, which could push him into a corner on an in/out question, and which way would everyone jump then? Nightmare.