Chelsea books in for festival
● Chelsea Clinton says she appreciated Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘candour’ as a leader
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of 2016 US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton, was at the Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday, when she said the US could learn from Scotland’s female politicians
The US could learn lessons from Scotland’s female politicians, Chelsea Clinton has claimed.
Ms Clinton, the daughter of Hillary Clinton, who stood against Donald Trump in the last US elections and former president Bill Clinton, said that Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and Tory party leader Ruth Davidson were an inspiration to encourage more young women to run for political office.
However, in an interview with The Scotsman ahead of her appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, she ruled out plans to stand as a potential presidential candidate, saying she felt “well represented” by local female politicians in her hometown of New York.
“It’s something that I hope young women think about,” she said. “I hope that given that the First Minister and the opposition are both women, whether you’ll see more young women running for office here in Scotland. There’s no longer the pressure to imagine what female leadership would look like because you see it.”
Ms Clinton, who is also on the board of the Clinton Foundation,said that ms sturgeon’ s leadership was “very different” to the Trump presidency.
She said: “I really appreciate how candid the First Minister has been about the challenges of being a woman. I think that is incredibly healthy and incredibly courageous and incredibly powerful. So often the challenge of being a woman, especially the first woman anything, these are challenges that we have historically shied away from and which could be used as leverage against us so I think that is something we could learn from, not just in the United States, but everywhere.
“It shows what strong leadership looks like, including a healthy candour that is very different to the candour that our president engages in.”
However, she said that she did not believe many Americans were aware of Scotland’s female leaders.
She said: “I think there is so much happening in the US that merits such outrage that there is probably not a lot of awareness. That is not a comment on Scotland so much as a tragic commentary on what people of my political bent are trying to push back against.”
Ms Clinton insisted that she has no plans to run for office.