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LONDON — Amid the political turmoil of the last 12 months, one thing remains a constant: love is still in the air in Westminster, and the political world beyond SW1.
On what is fast-becoming a Valentine’s Day tradition, POLITICO today brings you its latest, definitely-not-scientifically-ranked 2023 list of Britain’s top 40 political power couples.
And with two changes of government since last year’s list was published, there are some big ups and downs in 2023.
1. Rachel Reeves and Nicholas Joicey
If the polls stay where they are, Rachel Reeves is on course to be the next chancellor of the exchequer, making her one of the most sought-after lunch dates in Westminster right now. Her husband Nicholas Joicey is also an SW1 high-flyer in his own right, holding a big job in the civil service as director general for finance at the Department for Work and Pensions. No couple matters more in British politics right now.
2. Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell
They might not be big fans of Westminster, but when it comes to making the political weather these two are never far from the story. Their push for Scottish independence has caused a massive headache for successive prime ministers over the last decade. Sturgeon, who has seen off multiple Conservative PMs, is the long-serving leader of the SNP and Scotland’s first minister, while Murrell runs the governing Scottish National Party as its chief executive.
3. James Forsyth and Allegra Stratton
These two shoot back up the power couple rankings again — but is Forsyth, an old school friend of Rishi Sunak, with the job at the heart of government this time. He was appointed Downing Street political secretary at the end of last year. Stratton, a former spokeswoman for both Sunak and Boris Johnson, is now back in journalism working for Bloomberg, where she writes a daily newsletter. Both are close to the current prime minister.
4. Elisabeth and Robert Stheeman
Britain’s economic institutions have rarely been as prominent in public life as they have been the past few months — just ask Liz Truss. And it’s for this reason the heavy-hitting Stheemans explode onto our power list for the first time. Elisabeth Stheeman, an external member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee, is married to Robert Stheeman, who heads up Britain’s debt management office.
5. Eleanor Shawcross and Simon Wolfson
Shawcross and Wolfson are another new entry into this year’s power couple rankings. Shawcross, an ex-David Cameron-era special adviser, is now a key player at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street, running the prime minister’s policy unit. Her Tory peer husband Simon Wolfson, the boss of the retail giant Next, has long been a big-hitter in Tory circles and was a major donor to Cameron. Shawcross also happens to be the daughter of William Shawcross, the writer and broadcaster who is currently the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
6. Steven and Sarah Swinford
A top hack and civil service pairing. One of the lobby’s biggest hitters and most reliable scoop-getters, Times Political Editor Steven Swinford is married to Sarah Swinford, the director of crime reduction at the Home Office.
7. Harriet Mathews and David Frost
Frost has made himself one of the most influential foreign policy figures in the U.K. in recent years, as the man who negotiated Britain’s future relationship with the European Union after Brexit. But since he marched out of government it is his wife, Harriet Mathews, who now has the more prominent role in this sphere. She is deputy political director of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Frost, now a peer, still remains respected in Tory circles as a darling of the right, delivering stinging critiques of government policy through the pages of the Daily Telegraph.
8. Declan Lyons and Sophia True
These two are the most highly-ranked SpAd pairing. Lyons, who served under Boris Johnson, remains an integral part of the Downing Street operation even after the changes of prime minister, and his now-wife Sophia True, the daughter of Tory peer Nicholas True, is working for Michael Gove as an adviser on policy and comms. Their wedding even made it into the Daily Mail after another power couple, Boris and Carrie Johnson (see further down the article), turned up and Carrie posted about it on social media.
9. Pat and Marianna McFadden
With Labour surging ahead in the polls, this is another opposition power couple worth knowing. If Labour wins, Pat McFadden will be in charge of the spending as chief secretary to the Treasury. Marianna, who was head of insight at the influential Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, is now deputy campaign director at Labour HQ.
10. Stuart Ingham and Jess Leigh
Ingham is one of Labour leader Keir Starmer’s longest-serving and most trusted aides. He is currently executive director of policy, tasked with overseeing the platform on which the Labour Party will stand at the next election. His partner Jess Leigh is the all-important link between Labour and Britain’s broadcasters in the party’s press office.
11. Pippa Crerar and Tom Whitehead
Lobby hack extraordinaire Pippa Crerar, the political editor of the Guardian who helped expose both the Partygate and Barnard Castle scandals in her previous role at the Daily Mirror, is one half of another journalist-civil service power couple. She is married to ex-Telegraph hack Tom Whitehead, who’s now helping run Russia Ukraine comms at the FCDO.
12. Paul Brand and Joe Cuddeford
UK editor of ITV News Paul Brand, the other key player in the Partygate exposé, is also married to a senior civil servant. His husband Cuddeford works in the Geospatial Commission in the Cabinet Office. After brainless social media trolls horrifically targeted Cuddeford, alleging he was the source of Brand’s Partygate scoops, Brand was forced to rebut the “pretty wild stuff” being said.
13. Boris and Carrie Johnson
The ex-prime minister and his former Tory comms chief wife Carrie have inevitably toppled down the power couple rankings after Johnson was ousted by his own MPs last summer following a string of personal scandals. But let’s face it, his every utterance still gets the chattering classes excited, and the amount of cash flooding into Johnson’s bank account these days suggests someone thinks there’s power there.
14. Dehenna Davison and Tony Kay
Currently a leveling-up minister, Davison had long been pegged as a future star of the Conservative Party and always draws attention when she speaks. Had she not unexpectedly announced she was standing down at the next election, these two might have been even more highly ranked. Her partner Tony Kay is a Foreign Office bigwig — a former ambassador to Israel, and currently the department’s deputy director for the Iraq and Arabian Peninsula.
15. Kate Ferguson and Richard Holden
As political editor of the Sun on Sunday, Ferguson has a key role in shaping the media agenda for the week ahead with her relentless Sunday scoops. Conservative MP Richard Holden, well-known in Westminster from his days spinning for CCHQ, is a loyal ally of Sunak, and is now a junior transport minister in his government.
16. Stephen Kinnock and Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Stephen Kinnock has the key shadow portfolio of immigration on Labour’s front bench and could soon be working on this important brief in government. His wife Thorning-Schmidt, the former Danish prime minister, has left national politics behind to make a global tech power play. She is part of Meta’s Oversight Board, which deals with the thorny issue of how to moderate content on the all-powerful platform.
17. Jenny Chapman and Nick Smith
Labour peer Chapman is currently shadow minister of state for the Cabinet Office, and another key ally of leader Keir Starmer. As his former political secretary, she would undoubtedly be a big figure in any future Labour government. Her husband Nick Smith has been a Labour MP since 2010 and has served as an opposition whip, tasked with enforcing party discipline.
18. Nickie and Alex Aiken
Nickie Aiken is now deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and married to veteran Whitehall comms pro Alex Aiken. He’s executive director of government communications, a powerful civil service role.
19. Ellie Reeves and John Cryer
Ellie Reeves is a Labour rising star and shadow justice minister, who also happens to be the sister of shadow Cabinet power player Rachel Reeves. She’s married to fellow Labour MP John Cryer, who has a powerful role chairing the Parliamentary Labour Party.
20. Esther McVey and Philip Davies
Former Cabinet minister Esther McVey and outspoken backbench Tory MP Philip Davies are very much the power couple of the Conservative right. They now wield clout on the airwaves via their own GB News TV show on a Saturday morning.
21. Andrea Jenkyns and Jack Lopresti
You don’t get much more political than having a son you jokingly call “Brexit Clifford.” He was born on the day Article 50 was triggered and the process of the U.K. leaving the EU begun. Jenkyns and Lopresti married in 2017 after their relationship was revealed by the Sun newspaper with the unforgettable headline “Christmas humpers.” Jenkyns is a key player in the European Research Group, whose power could well be tested in the coming weeks with the Northern Ireland protocol expected to be high on the political agenda again.
22. Stephen Bush and Felicity Slater
Bush has long had an impressive profile in Westminster, and is regularly heard analyzing political developments on the airwaves as a commentator in high demand. He is now writing columns and magazine features for the Financial Times after leaving the New Statesman last year. Slater is advising not one, but two shadow cabinet members — Peter Kyle, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, and Jo Stevens, the shadow welsh secretary.
23. Ben and Rachel Houchen
Ben Houchen is the directly-elected Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley, and a poster boy for so-called Red Wall Tories back in the days of Boris Johnson. His wife Rachel, a teacher, works part-time as a non-executive director at the Office for Students.
24. Sam Haq and Carl Dineen
A familiar face in British living rooms, Carl Dineen has the important job of delivering political news to the nation on ITV’s bulletins. His wife used to be a key player behind the scenes of those broadcasts as ITV news editor, but is now heading up comms at the Department for Transport.
25. Johnny and Felicity Mercer
When it comes to political communications, there is no one quite like Felicity Mercer. When her husband was sacked as veterans minister, Felicity [who tweets as Felicity Cornelius-Mercer] took to social media to slam the Cabinet system which she said “treats people appallingly.” Mercer, of course, is now back in that role. Often outspoken, he certainly keeps Tory whips on their toes.
26. Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls
Cooper is one of Labour’s most senior frontbenchers, serving as Starmer’s shadow home secretary and one of a small number of his team with Cabinet-level experience. Balls, while no longer a politician, is still very much in the public eye as a prominent political commentator. He can be found on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and on veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil’s Channel 4 show, where he offers unmissable punditry alongside his former opposite number George Osborne. There is, of course, always speculation about whether a return to the political frontline might beckon for Balls. Were that to happen, expect these two to fly up the power rankings.
27. Cat Smith and David Linden
There is no better Westminster story on Valentine’s Day than one of love across the political divide, particularly in these tribal times. Smith is a Labour MP and an ally of former leader Jeremy Corbyn who resigned from Keir Starmer’s team over Corbyn’s continued suspension from the party. Linden is a Scottish National Party MP. With the prospect of some sort of SNP / Labour coalition surely still possible after the next election (despite the endless denials), this is a power pairing to watch in the months to come.
28. Jill Cuthbertson and Mo Hussein
Part of another cross-party pairing to gladden the hardest of hearts, Cuthbertson is director of Keir Starmer’s office. Hussein, a former special adviser to ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd, is no longer on the political frontline, but still dabbles in political commentary and has a senior position at Edelman Global Advisory, a big player in public affairs in London.
29. Henna Shah and Matt Pound
When it comes to Labour’s spending plans, Henna Shah plays an all-important role. As political adviser to Starmer’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden, aides whisper about her in reverent tones as the gatekeeper of the all-important Labour spending commitment spreadsheet. Her other half is Matthew Pound, senior advisor to the party’s General Secretary David Evans, and seen as one of the key fixers inside Labour.
30. Richard Tice and Isabel Oakeshott
The Reform Party, which Tice leads, is always in the minds of Tory strategists, even if it doesn’t currently have the same political potency of its predecessor the Brexit Party. With the Northern Ireland protocol back in the headlines, Westminster is always on defection-watch and Reform would be the obvious place for a disgruntled Brexiteer to go. Oakeshott, a former Sunday Times political editor, remains a prominent media voice, chiefly on Rupert Murdoch’s new vehicle TalkTV.
31. Matt Dathan and Harriet Line
Both rising stars among Westminster’s lobby reporters, Dathan is the Times’ home affairs editor with a reputation for insider scoops, while Line is now the Mail’s deputy political editor after a big promotion last year.
32. JoJo Penn and Craig Woodhouse
Penn, a long-standing and loyal aide to Theresa May when she was prime minister, now sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Penn of Teddington. She was the first ever serving Lords minister to formally take maternity leave under new laws after having a baby with Craig Woodhouse, an ex-Sun journalist who is currently director of comms at the newly slimmed-back Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
33. Natalie Evans and James Wild
These two have dropped down the power rankings after former House of Lords leader Evans left the Cabinet during the political turmoil of last summer. They are still worthy of inclusion, however. Wild, the Tory MP for North West Norfolk, was a key backer of Sunak, is a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Work and Pensions, and is well-connected in Westminster having started his career as a Tory SpAd. Evans, a former think tank wonk, remains a senior Tory peer.
34. Liz Bates and Jake Richards
Bates is a familiar figure on our screens after joining Sky News as a political correspondent from Channel 4 last year. She recently got engaged to Jake Richards, Labour’s candidate in Rother Valley. If the polls stay as they are, Richards could well be an MP in 2024.
35. Tony Diver and Leila McIntyre
Diver, currently acting Sunday Political Editor at the Telegraph, is another lobby hack helping set the week’s political agenda. His other half is ex-InHouse Comms account manager-turned Labour press officer, Leila McIntyre.
36. Rachel Wolf and James Frayne
Wolf, a former adviser to Michael Gove, co-wrote Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto. She is married to James Frayne, the former director of communications at the Department for Education and a columnist with Tory grassroots website ConservativeHome. The pair co-founded the well-regarded lobbying agency Public First, and both are regular commentators on chunky policy issues.
37. Robert Peston and Charlotte Edwardes
Peston, ITV’s political editor, is one half of another well-known media power couple. His partner is Charlotte Edwardes, who has just jumped ship from the Sunday Times to the Guardian.
38. Isabel Hardman and John Woodcock
Hardman, assistant editor at the Spectator and a top political commentator and author, is married to the former Labour MP John Woodcock. Woodcock now sits in the House of Lords as Baron Walney and is currently the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption.
39. John and Susan Hayes
Another new addition to this year’s power couples list, we only discovered last year just how close this couple are to the woman in charge of Britain’s homeland security — Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Braverman was briefly booted out of government after she was found to have secretly sent her old pal John Hayes advanced sight of a written ministerial statement — having reportedly tried (and failed) to copy in Hayes’ wife and office administrator Susan. Hayes also runs parliament’s Common Sense Group caucus.
40. Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo
These two are just about hanging in there, but Hancock might need to land a few more reality TV bookings or stage some kind of political comeback to get himself shifting up the power couple rankings again. He currently has little in the way of influence in politics after losing the Tory whip for jetting off to the ‘I’m a Celebrity’ jungle. Few doubt that Coladangelo, a PR guru, has had a significant role in the most unlikely rebrand of 2022. Who knows what lies ahead for these two?
