Sarah Jane Brown

Sarah Brown
Born	Sarah Macaulay (1963-10-31) 31 October 1963 Buckinghamshire, England
Education	University of Bristol
Known for	Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Term	27 June 2007 – present
Predecessor	Cherie Blair
Successor	Incumbent
Spouse	Gordon Brown (2000—)
Children	Jennifer Jane (2001–2002) John (born 2003) James Fraser (born 2006)

Sarah Brown (née Macaulay; born 31 October 1963) is the wife of Gordon Brown, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was also a founding partner of Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications, a public relations company.

Early life

Born Sarah Macaulay in Buckinghamshire, England to a middle-class family, her mother was a teacher and her Scottish father worked for publisher Longman. Gordon Brown has been quoted as saying "my wife is from middle England". She spent most of her early childhood in Tanzania. At the age of seven her parents separated and she with her two younger brothers went to live with their mother and stepfather in North London.

She was educated in North London at Acland Burghley School and Camden School for Girls, and went on to take a psychology degree at University of Bristol.

After leaving university, she worked at the brand consultancy Wolff Olins. When she was 30, she went into partnership with her old school friend, Julia Hobsbawm, starting the Hobsbawm Macaulay public relations firm together. The firm landed contracts with the New Statesman, owned by Geoffrey Robinson.

Marriage and children

She first met Gordon Brown briefly at a Labour event, but they didn't speak at length until 1994 when the two shared a flight from London to Scotland for the Scottish Labour Party conference. After this meeting the two began dating.

The relationship was kept secret until 1997, when the News of the World published a picture of the two together in a restaurant in London. Allegedly, the scene was staged by spin doctor Charlie Whelan and had to be reshot when Brown failed to look suitably loving.

They were married in a surprise wedding on 3 August 2000 in Brown's home town, North Queensferry, Fife, and she changed her name to Sarah Brown.

In 2001, she left Hobsbawm Macaulay after finding out she was pregnant with her first child. On 28 December 2001 she gave birth to a daughter, Jennifer Jane, who died when she was only 10 days old. In 2002 she founded charity Piggy Bank Kids, which began as a research fund to tackle complications in pregnancy, and has now expanded into a range of projects helping disadvantaged children.

On 17 October 2003 she gave birth to her second child, a boy, John and then on 17 July 2006 she had another boy, James Fraser. In November of that year, James Fraser was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

She is currently the patron of domestic violence charity Women's Aid and of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre, set up in memory of a breast cancer victim, among others. Brown is also a close friend of writer J.K. Rowling (who donated £1 m to the Labour Party in 2008), and the two co-authored a children's book for the One Parent Families charity organization.

Public perception

Brown has often been compared with the wife of her husband's predecessor, Cherie Blair, who was often portrayed as eccentric and outgoing by the media. She has been portrayed in contrast to this, as a more reserved, though nontheless amiable, figure.

External links

• BBC news - Sarah Brown: The new 'first lady'

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