Meet New British PM, Liz Truss’ Husband, Hugh O’Leary
Having been officially appointed and unveiled by the Queen as the new British Prime Minister, many are already asking the pertinent question, who is the spouse of Liz Truss?
The thinking around No 10 Downing Street is that just as Carrie Johnson, wife of the immediate past PM, Boris Johnson, was shot into the global spotlight on account of their relationship, so can Hugh O’Leary, Truss’s husband of over two decades, expect to experience a new level of attention due to his wife’s role.
So, who is this father-of-two and a qualified accountant, just like his wife, set to move into Downing Street?
Born 1974 in Liverpool and brought up in the Allerton, Merseyside town of Heswall, Hugh O’Leary is the son of a College lecturer-turned solicitor, John, and a nurse, Susan. The eldest of three siblings, he studied econometrics and mathematical economics at the London School of Economics, before embarking on a career as an accountant.
Like his wife, O’Leary has also harboured political ambitions, having stood for the Conservative Party in local elections a number of times (all unsuccessfully). His most recent attempt was in the 2006 Greenwich elections, the same year that his wife was elected as a Councillor for Eltham South, representing the ward until 2010.
It was their shared political ideology that first brought O’Leary and Truss together. Despite being raised by Labour-supporting parents and dabbling in the Liberal Democrats in her student days, by 1996 Truss had switched her allegiance to the Conservatives.
She met O’Leary at a Tory Party conference the following year. Describing their first date to You magazine in 2019, Truss stated: ‘I invited him ice-skating and he sprained his ankle.’
Undeterred by the rocky start to their relationship, the couple went on to marry three years later, in 2000. Their marriage was put to the test in 2006, when an affair between Truss and another married Tory MP, Mark Field, made headlines, but the couple stayed together.
O’Leary has largely remained in the background during Truss’s political career and is thought to be very private, having told the Daily Mail when asked about his wife’s affair: ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
Today they live in Greenwich in south-east London with their two teenage daughters, named Frances and Liberty. Although their ages have not been publicly confirmed, their birthdays have been posted on Truss’ Instagram.
In March 2020, Truss posted a pic on Instagram of a birthday cake saying “Frances 14”, so she is thought to have been born in 2006.
Also, in a rare appearance on his wife’s Instagram to mark Valentine’s Day 2019, Truss posted a picture of herself with her husband captioned: “Love of my life.”
Interestingly, this was one of the few moments she publicly shared any details about her husband. The family of four are now expected to make the prime ministerial flat, above Number 11 Downing Street, their home.
The Times adds that sources have described the ‘dry-witted’ O’Leary as ‘hugely supportive’, meaning he’s no doubt prepared to play the media game if it means helping his wife rise to the new challenge.
In September 2022, Hugh O’Leary looked delighted as he sat next to his wife as she was appointed the new UK Prime Minister. – With agency reports
