Sally Bercow and her oh-so-tasteful tattoo
SHE has never been afraid of putting her body on public display.
So there was little chance that Sally Bercow was going to keep her first tattoo hidden from the world for too long.
The 43-year-old would-be Labour MP, who once posed semi-naked in a bedsheet against a backdrop of the Houses of Parliament, revealed her body art – which she had done earlier this year – in front of millions of TV viewers.
The tennis-ball size tattoo featured all three of her children’s names – Jemima, Freddie and Oliver – in a heart shape on her left shoulder.
The blonde ex-advertising executive wore a sleeveless shift dress to show it off during ITV’s ‘Big Star’s Little Star’ quiz show, in which she and her five-year- old daughter starred.
Mrs Bercow was tasked with guessing what answers her daughter gave to questions such as what she and Commons Speaker John Bercow talk about at home (‘David Cameron’); whether she has ever pinched anything from Parliament (no, but some of her friends ‘ might have taken the odd ashtray’); and what mummy might need to go back to school for (‘Parking,’ said Jemima, ‘because it’s not very good.’)
On the Cameron question, Mrs Bercow confesses: ‘I sort of rant about what he’s doing to the country and how much he’s destroying it. Obviously my husband, being impartial, can’t pass any comment.’
Presenter Stephen Mulhern asks Jemima: ‘Do they like him?’ Jemima: ‘No.’ Why not? ‘Cos he’s silly,’ she replies.
At one stage Jemima confessed that her mum had tried to get her to reveal in advance what questions she had been asked.
It emerged last week that the youngster, said to have been ‘very nervous’, was reduced to tears during filming of the pre-recorded programme. Mrs Bercow had put it down to stage fright; ITV said Jemima was happy to continue after the presenter talked to her backstage.
The tattoo her mother premiered on the Wednesday night show was created during a visit to Chester with her heavily inked ‘best mate’ Paddy Doherty, star of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
Although the tattoo parlour trip was announced to the Twitterati at the time, this was the first public sight of the actual design – and certainly the first time it has been shared with 3.8million prime-time viewers.
But for those who might wonder if more ink can be found elsewhere and more privately on Mrs B’s 6ft frame, sleep easy. She declared in advance of the visit it would be ‘My first (& only) tat’.