Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wish Sir Keir and his wife would not hold hands when working

758 replies

BeaQuiet · 10/07/2024 10:23

They've arrived in Washington DC on official business clutching hands like the Macrons, the Obamas and the Sussexes.

AiBU to find it a bit cringey?

And before anyone asks, yes I do have bigger things to worry about but I fancy a chat.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
22
bergamotorange · 10/07/2024 10:37

ButterCrackers · 10/07/2024 10:34

Is she there as a private person? Who is paying for it all? She wasn’t elected.

This is pathetic. Spouses/partners are regularly included at international events. This is not a new thing.

And who is paying for what? The plane is in the sky. The bed will be a double. So I suppose the breakfast cost - paid for by the host country - is additional.

FantasticFanny · 10/07/2024 10:36

Is he at work though when stepping on/off a plane? Not sure he is, I doubt they’ll be holding hands in the meetings he’s flown out for.

VS has been thrust onto the world stage because of the ridiculous expectation that she should take part. She’s taking part as expected. I’m sure she’d rather be pursuing her own career/with her family.

ButtSurgery · 10/07/2024 10:35

ButterCrackers · 10/07/2024 10:34

Is she there as a private person? Who is paying for it all? She wasn’t elected.

Standard for the wives / husbands of international leaders to be dragged abroad for these things. They do a surprising amount of back room diplomacy and glad handing.

bergamotorange · 10/07/2024 10:35

YABU, doing this is absolutely fine and normal for leaders.

Anyway, you can be certain you are in the minority as it will have been focus grouped!

FluentRubyDog · 10/07/2024 10:34

Here are your victorian smelling salts... When you gather your wits a bit, appreciate the fact that the man has one of the toughest jobs to do in one of the toughest situations for avery long while. If a handhold helps him through, by all means, go for it. At least he's not behaving like Boris!

Sakura7 · 10/07/2024 10:34

Another thread on this? How ridiculous 🙄

It's sad, and quite telling, that some people find small signs of affection in a marriage odd.

ButtSurgery · 10/07/2024 10:34

Perfectly normal behaviour between a married couple on the international stage.

Never going to be as cringey as anything Trump did just by existing.

ButterCrackers · 10/07/2024 10:34

sweeneytoddsrazor · 10/07/2024 10:29

But they aren't technically at work. Surely the work starts with the meetings so arriving is on their way to work
Plenty of couples hold hands on their way to work or anywhere really

Is she there as a private person? Who is paying for it all? She wasn’t elected.

x2boys · 10/07/2024 10:32

Samcro · 10/07/2024 10:25

had to get H&M in didn't you. there is a whole topic to bash them.
maybe his wife is shy and needs reassurance.

Yep always a H&M bashing even when it's completely unrelated to them.

TooBigForMyBoots · 10/07/2024 10:32

YABU

BeaQuiet · 10/07/2024 10:32

had to get H&M in didn't you. there is a whole topic to bash them.

Oh give over. The Sussexes do hold hands when working. And they're in good company with the Obamas. Just find it cringey.

OP posts:
RegimentalSturgeon · 10/07/2024 10:30

There’s no good reason for unelected spouses to be there at all. And hand-holding is an act for the cameras.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 10/07/2024 10:29

But they aren't technically at work. Surely the work starts with the meetings so arriving is on their way to work
Plenty of couples hold hands on their way to work or anywhere really

AutismHelp1980 · 10/07/2024 10:29

I bet his wife thinks she’s in some parallel universe! I know I would, one day working in the NHS the next meeting fellow puppets of the most powerful
people in the world! I mean who really runs the world?!

nootropics · 10/07/2024 10:29

Someone got out of bed on the wrong side this morning!

prettybird · 10/07/2024 10:28

Didn't cross my mind to think it was anything but nice Confused

SavetheNHS · 10/07/2024 10:28

I think it's nice and it's normal.

Itiswhysofew · 10/07/2024 10:28

He's at work, so yeah, I suppose it is wrong.

BeaQuiet · 10/07/2024 10:28

this is a you problem not a them problem

Do you speak like that in real life?

No hang ups. Happy to hold hands with DH now and then but not at work.

OP posts:
CelesteCunningham · 10/07/2024 10:27

ButterCrackers · 10/07/2024 10:24

Why are the partners there? It’s always struck me as unnecessary.

Exactly this. Surely the problem is that she's expected to be there at all, at a time of huge upheaval for their family.

Don't care whether they hold hands. They do appear to like each other, which is a nice thing.

Adviceneeeeded · 10/07/2024 10:27

I think it looks good. They look like a solid partnership. Which means they work well together. Which means the PM will have time to devote to his job and he's not focused on saving or ruining his relationship. He has children already and has time to focus on the job.

I think it's a good thing.

pinkdelight · 10/07/2024 10:26

I think it's nice but also really not a thing to be bothered about in the slightest.

Cadela · 10/07/2024 10:26

They’re holding hands, it’s not like she’s giving him a handjob.

Go find something actually worth wasting your time and energy over.

BigDahliaFan · 10/07/2024 10:25

I think it's quite sweet (and I'm not a big hand holder myself) and it would probably be more commented on if they didn't. I know people ask why do spouses go - but I think at that level it's more about personal relationships between leaders than is perhaps realised.

That can be for good and bad! Reagan and Thatcher, Bush and Blair....

Samcro · 10/07/2024 10:25

had to get H&M in didn't you. there is a whole topic to bash them.
maybe his wife is shy and needs reassurance.

Swipe left for the next trending thread