Mr 038; Mrs Brown

Sarah, who reportedly has a rocky relationship with Cherie, prefers to stay on the sidelines and let Brown do the talking. Her low-key style means she is unlikely to face criticism from tabloids in the same way as Cherie, a successful human rights lawyer often accused of having a taste for high living and new age fads.

Sarah 43, seems determined to keep a tight rein on the image which she and her husband project to the British public, carefully guarding details of her private life. But if the former public relations executive prefers to stay out of the limelight, it is because she wants to see the centrestage reserved for her husband.

Born in 1963 in Buckinghamshire, southern England, Sarah spent much of her childhood in Tanzania before returning to England at the age of seven when her parents separated.