How UK leaders’ spouses have negotiated clothing in the media age

John Major, when he was chancellor, and his wife Norma, in 1990. In 1996, she told David Frost she regretted wearing her blue suit when they were photographed outside No 10 after her husband became PM. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Asked in 1996 by the late David Frost whether there was anything she would do differently if she had her time again as the wife of the prime minister John Major, Norma Major had a ready reply: “Yes: I wouldn’t have worn the blue suit.”

There had been the criticism at the time of the unflattering tool-box blue jacket in which she had arrived at the couple’s first big day at 10 Downing Street on 28 November 1990. But the response was also an acknowledgement that her choice for the iconic photo outside the famous black door would likely dog her for ever.