Five female leaders with dodgy husbands
It may be little consolation to the beleagured former SNP leader, but Nicola Sturgeon is not alone among female leaders to have married a wrong’un.
Her husband, Peter Murrell, may have abused his position as Chief Executive of the SNP to help himself to around £400,000 of party funds, financing purchases ranging from a luxury motorhome to a Folio Society edition of Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism costing £150. (Say what you will about the man, you can’t deny he’s a culture vulture with a broad palette.)
Yet, impressive though Murrell’s alleged achievements may be, he remains something of a minor league player in the grand history of politically inconvenient husbands.
For every Peter Murrell there is an Asif Ali Zardari. For each disputed motorhome there is a money-laundering investigation. For every awkward police inquiry there is a scandal capable of toppling governments, triggering impeachments or even getting cabinet ministers fired.
Here are five husbands who managed to transform their wives’ political careers into exercises in damage limitation.
1. Asif Ali Zardari: The Man Who Turned Marriage Into a Revenue Stream
If Peter Murrell allegedly treated the SNP as a particularly accommodating credit card, then Asif Ali Zardari was operating on an altogether grander scale.
The husband of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto became so synonymous with corruption that he acquired the nickname “Mr. 10%” — a moniker usually bestowed upon a loyal mafia accountant than a cabinet minister. According to his critics, every government contract represented an opportunity for a little facilitation fee and a tiny contribution to the Zardari household budget.
His alleged exploits ranged from kickbacks on state contracts to a Swiss money-laundering scheme involving a diamond necklace worth $188,000. Most political spouses are content with the occasional free bottle of wine at diplomatic receptions. Zardari apparently had more expensive tastes.
The accusations became so politically toxic that they helped bring down not one but both of Bhutto’s governments. While most husbands struggle to assemble flat-pack furniture, Zardari managed to assemble a corruption scandal large enough to destabilise an entire administration.
2. Sindre Finnes: Norway’s Most Dedicated Day Trader
Norway likes to think of itself as one of the world’s cleanest political systems. Then Sindre Finnes came along and reminded everyone that there is no ethics framework robust enough to withstand a husband with a brokerage account and too much free time.
While Prime Minister Erna Solberg was busy running the country, Finnes was reportedly conducting a secret second career as a stock market enthusiast, completing more than 3,600 share trades.
Three thousand six hundred.
Most people would struggle to find time to watch 3,600 episodes of a television series. Finnes somehow managed to squeeze in 3,600 stock transactions.
The problem was not merely the volume of trades but the awkward fact that many involved companies potentially affected by decisions taken by his wife’s government. The revelation transformed Solberg from Norway’s embodiment of administrative competence into the centre of a sprawling conflict-of-interest scandal.
Finnes later admitted he had not been entirely forthcoming with his wife about his trading activities — a phrase that may qualify as the understatement of the decade.
3. Bill Clinton: The Original Political Spouse Problem
Bill Clinton is unique on this list because he was not merely a political spouse; he was a former president.
Nevertheless, his conduct arguably created more difficulties for Hillary Clinton than any opposition candidate ever managed.
The Monica Lewinsky scandal exploded in 1998 after it emerged that Clinton had engaged in an affair with a 22-year-old White House intern. What transformed a tawdry extramarital relationship into a constitutional crisis was not the affair itself, but Clinton’s repeated public denials under oath. His insistence that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman” became one of the most infamous statements in modern political history, and ultimately led to impeachment proceedings on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
For months, American politics resembled a national soap opera. Every newspaper, television channel and late-night comedian became obsessed with the intimate details of the President’s private life. While Bill’s presidency survived, Hillary found herself trapped in an impossible position: publicly defending her husband while privately dealing with one of the most famous marital betrayals in modern history.
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Long after the scandal faded from newspaper front pages, it continued to haunt Hillary’s political career. Opponents repeatedly invoked Bill’s behaviour during both her 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns, ensuring that an affair she did not have became a permanent feature of discussions about her suitability for office.
Nor did the questions end with Lewinsky. In later years, Clinton’s documented association with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein generated renewed scrutiny. Flight logs and visitor records show that Clinton had multiple connections to Epstein’s social circle, although no evidence has emerged that Clinton participated in or had knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities. Nevertheless, the continuing release of documents connected to the Epstein affair has ensured that uncomfortable questions about the former president’s judgement and associations continue to resurface.
Few women in politics have spent so much time answering questions about somebody else’s mistakes.
4. Ola Flem: The Man Who Accidentally Got Norway’s Foreign Minister Fired
If Sindre Finnes embarrassed Norway’s political establishment, Ola Flem ensured the country could not dismiss the affair as an isolated incident.
Flem, husband of Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, was revealed to have been actively trading shares in major Norwegian companies while his wife oversaw foreign policy decisions that could influence those very industries.
Among the companies involved were defence contractor Kongsberg Gruppen and major salmon producers — precisely the sort of firms that tend to care deeply about government decisions.
Unlike Solberg, who was in opposition when her husband’s activities became public, Huitfeldt was a serving cabinet minister. The consequences were therefore considerably more immediate.
Though she maintained she had no knowledge of Flem’s trading, the scandal proved impossible to contain. Public trust evaporated, political pressure mounted and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre ultimately removed her from the cabinet.
Few spouses can claim to have directly contributed to their partner losing a ministerial position. Flem joins an exclusive club.
5. Todd Palin: The Husband Who Turned a Family Grudge Into State Business
Most people have at least one relative they dislike.
Most people do not attempt to deploy the machinery of government against them.
Todd Palin, husband of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, found himself at the centre of the infamous “Troopergate” scandal after allegedly pressuring officials to dismiss state trooper Mike Wooten, who was embroiled in a bitter family dispute involving Sarah Palin’s sister.
The affair had all the ingredients of a particularly messy Christmas dinner: divorce, custody battles, family grievances and simmering resentment.
The only difference was that this Christmas dinner came with access to the governor’s office.
A formal investigation concluded that Sarah Palin had violated Alaska’s ethics laws by allowing improper pressure to be exerted through government channels. While Todd never held elected office himself, investigators found that his personal vendetta had become entangled with official state business.
The scandal severely damaged Palin’s carefully cultivated image as a straight-talking reformer and arrived at the worst possible moment — just as she was being introduced to the American electorate as John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate.
After reviewing this rogues’ gallery Peter Murrell almost begins to look reassuringly parochial.
If there is a moral to the story, it is that female politicians often find themselves held accountable not only for their own decisions but also for the behaviour of the men they marry.
Male politicians are generally judged on their record in office. Female politicians are often judged on their husband’s record too.
And if politics teaches us anything, it is this: behind every successful woman stands a man. Sometimes he’s supportive, loyal and discreet.
And sometimes he’s secretly buying salmon stocks, demanding kickbacks, pursuing personal vendettas or explaining to detectives why he needed a luxury campervan.
Poor Nicola. But she could have done much worse.
