Sally Bercow

Early life and education

Bercow attended the independent co-educational King Edward's School in Witley, Surrey, where she was in St Bridget's House from 1981-86. She did her A levels at the fee-paying Marlborough College, where she was a contemporary of Samantha Cameron. She attended Keble College, Oxford, dropping out after two years. She was the social secretary of the Oxford University Conservative Association.

After university, she pursued a career in public relations and advertising.

Personal life

She and her husband have three children, Jemima, Freddie and Oliver. Her eldest son, Oliver, has autism. She is a parent patron of the charity Ambitious about Autism. She had an affair with her husband's cousin.

Political career

Her husband, John Bercow, became a Conservative member of parliament at the 1997 General Election. However, she changed her political allegiance during the founding days of New Labour and actively campaigned for Tony Blair whilst also campaigning for John Bercow, her then partner, to win his seat. She campaigned for the election of Ed Balls as leader of the Labour Party in the 2010 Labour leadership election.

In 2010, she stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate for the St James's ward of Westminster City Council. Bercow is on the approved list of candidates for members of Parliament for the Labour Party, although following the Lord McAlpine Twitter case (see McAlpine v Bercow and below), she is reportedly unlikely to be considered. Bercow has repeatedly mentioned her desire to become a Labour MP, revealing that she would like to become the Labour candidate for the marginal Brighton Kemptown seat. It was reported that Bercow was in line to stand for Holborn and St Pancras if Frank Dobson retired, and she had been linked to standing to become the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for Harrow East in 2015.

 The Daily Telegraph has suggested that Bercow is politicising her husband's neutral role. John Bercow has rejected this criticism stating "the obligation of impartiality does not apply to my wife who is not my chattel". She has also appeared on the BBC's Question Time.

Publicity exposure

In February 2011, she attracted criticism for appearing to capitalise on her husband's position, when a photograph of her wearing only a bed sheet, with the House of Commons in the background, appeared in the London Evening Standard free newspaper. In the article she was quoted as saying "becoming Speaker has turned my husband into a sex symbol", although she later claimed, in a radio interview; "It was just meant to be a bit of fun, but obviously it has completely backfired on me and I look a complete idiot." John Bercow was reported as having "read the Riot Act" to her after the bed sheet photo was published.

Bercow entered the Big Brother House as a housemate on Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother 8. She became the first person to be evicted. She has also appeared on a celebrity edition of The Chase and Big Star's Little Star (with her daughter Jemima). She was initially scheduled to take part in the second series of The Jump, but had to quit after suffering an injury during training.

Twitter

In November 2012 Bercow used her Twitter account to hint the name of Lord McAlpine, a Conservative peer, implied to be a paedophile by the BBC's Newsnight programme. As a result, the peer took legal action against Bercow and others. In December, Bercow's solicitors, Carter-Ruck, announced that they were defending her in a £50,000 libel lawsuit filed by McAlpine. On 24 May 2013, the High Court found that Sally Bercow's tweet 'was libelous' and she agreed to pay damages.

In a tweet of 18 November 2012, Bercow named a schoolgirl involved in an abduction case although the girl's identity was protected by a court order. Two days later Bercow's Twitter account was deleted after what was described as 'legal gaffes', but she returned to Twitter a week later.