Revealed, Vogue’s top inf luencers... Amal, Meghan, JK... and Ruth
SHE is known for her selfdeprecating photo opportunities, fierce debating style and love of kickboxing.
Now Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has been ranked alongside the Duchess of Sussex as one of the most influential women in the UK by fashion magazine Vogue.
Miss Davidson appears on the ‘Vogue 25’ list alongside human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, fashion designer Stella McCartney and author JK Rowling.
The list is comprised of what the fashion publication says is ‘an extraordinary cast of leaders defining – and redefining – the way we live now’.
Miss Davidson is praised as a ‘beacon, thanks to her relatable personality and progressive ideas’ among ‘a sea of oldguard Tories’ by the magazine.
It also cites the openly gay politician’s ‘spectacular gains for her party in the last Scottish elections’ as a reason for her position on its list.
Miss Davidson, who last month announced she is pregnant, presided over huge gains during the 2016 Holyrood election, with the Tories leapfrogging Labour to become the main opposition to the SNP. She and her partner Jen Wilson said they were ‘excited’ to be expecting their first child in October after undergoing IVF treatment.
Miss Davidson, 39, said she would be taking some time off for maternity leave ‘like thousands of working women do every year’. But she added that she expects to return to the Scottish parliament in the spring of next year.
Miss Davidson became an MSP in 2011 and was elected leader of the Scottish Tories in the same year.
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said last night: ‘This shows just how good a job Ruth has done. Her hard work and appeal is now being noticed well beyond the political sphere.’
The women on the inaugural ‘Vogue 25’ list vary in age from 22 to 73 and also include figures from the arts, fashion, media and sport. But in a snub to the nation’s two most powerful women, the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May have been left off the list.
Following her wedding to Prince Harry this month, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is hailed by Vogue as a person who ‘captured the public imagination like no other this year’.
The magazine says that Meghan – ‘one of the most recognisable women in the world’ – has an influence that ‘stretches far beyond the ceaseless coverage of her style; as a bi-racial campaigning femi- nist from America, she is helping to forge a new 21st century identity for the monarchy’.
Editor Edward Enninful was said to have pledged to ‘get rid of the posh girls’ when he took over at Vogue last year.
So it comes as no surprise that the list is achingly right-on. Perhaps one of the more surprising inclusions is 22-year-old pop star Dua Lipa, who has been described as a ‘culture definer’ despite releasing her debut album only last year.
Miss Lipa’s song New Rules – which features lyrics including ‘If you’re under him, you ain’t getting over him’ – is lauded by the magazine as ‘an anthem of female empowerment’.
The bawdy track was credited with laying out ‘a blueprint for modern sex lives’.
Human rights lawyer and activist Mrs Clooney is the President of the Clooney Foundation for Justice. The mother of twins with husband George Clooney, she is a keen philanthropist.
Other unsurprising inclusions are Harry Potter author Miss Rowling and fashion designer Miss McCartney. Miss Rowling, who regularly shares her Leftleaning views on social media, has reportedly given millions to charity, resulting in her falling off the Forbes list of billionaires.
Miss McCartney received the Courage Award in 2003 for her crusade against cancer having lost her mother Linda to the disease and has designed T-shirts for children’s charity War Child.
Among less well-known inclusions are Karen Blackett, CEO of media agency MediaCom, who has been described as the most influential black person in Britain.
The list will appear in the July issue of Vogue.
‘Blueprint for modern sex lives’