Alexandra Patrusha Mina Swire, Baroness Swire (; born 18 January 1963), commonly known as Sasha Swire, is an English author and journalist, and the wife of the former Conservative Party Minister of State Hugo Swire, Baron Swire. She is the writer of the 2020 memoir ''Diary of an MP's Wife''.

Background

Descended from

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

, Alexandra Nott is the only daughter of Sir John Nott, former Member of Parliament for St Ives and

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also known as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Ministry of Defence. As a senior minister, the incumbent is a member of the ...

under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, and his wife Miloska Vlahović, daughter of Yugoslav resistance leader Lujo Vlahović, of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n extraction. Her elder and younger brothers, Julian and William Nott, both attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, while she was educated at

Cranborne Chase School Cranborne Chase School was an independent school, independent boarding school for girls, and was located in the English counties of Dorset and (later) Wiltshire, between 1946 and 1990. History Cranborne Chase School opened in 1946 at Crichel ...

. She then pursued further studies at St Martin's School of Art, where she was a contemporary of the fashion designer

John Galliano John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. From 2014 to 2024, Galliano was the creative director ...

. Swire trained as a journalist and has a background in local journalism. She sought selection for the

Teignbridge Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Newton Abbot. The district also includes the towns of Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth, along with numerous vi ...

parliamentary candidacy of 2005 won by Stanley Johnson.

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

wanted her to stand for a parliamentary seat for the Conservative Party again in 2009. She voted Remain in the 2016 EU referendum.

Diaries

Swire's book, ''Diary of an MP's Wife: Inside and Outside Power'', was published on 24 September 2020. It is Swire's diary of 20 years, and contains insights into the private lives of Conservative politicians, including

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A ...

Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab ( ; born 25 February 1974) is a British former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from September 2021 to September 2022 and again from October 2022 to ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove, Baron Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician and journalist who served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet positions under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rish ...

and

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

. It was serialised in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' prior to its release.

Petronella Wyatt Petronella "Petsy" Aspasia Wyatt (born 6 May 1968) is a British journalist and author. Early life and education Wyatt was born on 6 May 1968 at 12 Devonshire Street, London, England. Her parents were the journalist and Labour MP Woodrow Wyatt ...

, a friend, reported that Swire was initially distressed by some of the sensational extracts, hinting that they had somehow been "distorted". According to her book, Cameron once ventured to say to Swire: "The scent you are wearing is affecting my

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

s. It makes me want to grab you and push you into the bushes and give you one." The book was criticised by Karen Pollock, chief executive of the

Holocaust Educational Trust The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) is a British charity, based in London, whose aim is to "educate young people of every background about The Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today." One of the Trust's main achievements ...

, for its "casual, blasé use" of the term "

Jewish lobby The Jewish lobby are individuals and groups predominantly in the Jewish diaspora that advocate for the interests of Jews and Jewish values. The lobby references the involvement and influence of Jews in politics and the political process, and ...

". ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'' opined that Swire had written "antisemitic-sounding comments" in relation to the term. Reflecting in 2021 on the publication of her diaries, Swire wrote, "I was totally unprepared for the headlines that followed. It felt at times as if my wings were made of wax and feathers, that the sun had melted them and there was no shortage of hands pressing down on my head to keep me from resurfacing from a deep ocean. To be confronted with such a distorted picture of my real self was challenging to say the least."

Personal life

She married

Hugo Swire Hugo George William Swire, Baron Swire, (born 30 November 1959) is a British politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for East Devon (UK Parliament constituency), East Devon from 2001 United ...

on 12 December 1996 at the

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

of the

Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is an Old soldiers' home, Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse — the ancient sense of the word "hospital" — by King Charles II of Eng ...

, where Lord Michael Cecil was

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...

. She was her husband's

parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

for 18 years until he stood down from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. The couple live in

London SW6 The SW (South Western) postcode area, also known as the London SW postcode area, is a group of 20 postcode districts within the London post town in England. The area comprises the South Western operational district (covering the subdivisions of ...

and have two daughters, born in 1997 and 2001.

Honours

Cross of Merit, Order ''pro Merito Melitensi''

Bibliography

* ''Diary of an MP's Wife: Inside and Outside Power'' (

Little, Brown Book Group Little, Brown Book Group is a UK publishing company created in 1988, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by Hachette UK, a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. It was acquired in 2006 from Time Warner of New ...

, 2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swire, Sasha 1963 births Living people 21st-century English diarists 21st-century English women writers Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art British people of Slovenian descent English people of Slovenian descent

Sasha Swire Alexandra Patrusha Mina Swire, Baroness Swire (; born 18 January 1963), commonly known as Sasha Swire, is an English author and journalist, and the wife of the former Conservative Party Minister of State Hugo Swire, Baron Swire. She is the wr ...