Lady Clegg
Born (1968-05-31) 31 May 1968
Olmedo, Valladolid, Spain
Alma materUniversity of Valladolid
OccupationLawyer
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Spouse
​
(m. 2000)​
Children3

Miriam González Durántez, Lady Clegg[1][2][3] (born 31 May 1968) is a Spanish international trade lawyer, vice chair of UBS Europe, and founder of Inspiring Girls. She is married to Nick Clegg, who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015.

Early life

Miriam González Durántez was born to two teachers in Olmedo, in the Spanish province of Valladolid. Her father, José Antonio González Caviedes, was also Mayor of Olmedo and served as a senator for Valladolid for the conservative People's Party (PP) from 1989 until he died in 1996.[4] She studied law at the University of Valladolid and then won a postgraduate scholarship to the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She met Nick Clegg in Bruges, and continued to work in Brussels.[5]

Career

Having previously worked as a trade negotiator and advisor on trade law, and relations with the Middle East to both the European Union and the British Government, González Durántez is a partner at Cohen & Gresser, where she is co-chair of the firm's International Trade and Government Regulation practice. Prior to that, she worked at Dechert and DLA Piper for six years.[6][7]

González Durántez is considered an expert on European Union law and regulation, and co-authored the book Regulatory Aspects of the WTO Telecoms Agreements.[8]

She is a Member of the European Council of Foreign Relations.

Since October 2013 González Durántez has been the honorary president of Canning House in London, the home of the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Council.[9]

González Durántez is vice chair of UBS Europe. Until 2018, she was a member of Board and chair of the Audit and Remuneration Committees of UBS UK (UBSL). She was also on the Board of Directors of Acciona, S.A. between June 2010 and July 2014.

González published the book Devuélveme el Poder on Spanish politics in October 2019. She also published the cookbook, Made In Spain: Recipes and stories from my country and beyond in 2016.[10]

González is the chair and founder of international charity, Inspiring Girls.[11] Active globally in 14 countries, the charity aims to raise the aspirations of young girls by connecting them with female role models. The Inspiring Girls Video Hub is due for launch in Autumn 2019.

Personal life

González Durántez dated the British politician Nick Clegg for several years in Brussels before they married in 2000. The couple have three sons. She insisted on giving their children Spanish names if they were to have the family name "Clegg". She is a practising Roman Catholic, and the couple agreed that their children would be raised as such, though her husband is agnostic.[12][13][14] She has not taken British citizenship and so, as an EU citizen who is not a Commonwealth or Irish citizen, she can vote in local and European elections; but not at UK general elections.[15]

González Durántez attends the Je suis Charlie rally in Trafalgar Square, January 2015

González Durántez spoke of her relationship with the United Kingdom in a 2014 interview stating that after living in the country she:

"felt a freedom that I had never felt before in my life, a freedom to be myself. I come from a culture, in Spain, in Brussels, where, if you want to be a lawyer, you study law, if you want to be an economist, you study economy. Whatever you do early in your life determines what you do later on. When I came here, I went for lots of chats with people because I didn't know what to do. And pretty much all of them said, 'What do you want to do?' And I was like, 'Me? You want to know what I think? I have a choice?'"[16]

As of 2021, González Durántez lives in California.[17]

2010 UK general election campaign

When Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron became increasingly involved in the media and 2010 UK general election campaigns, González Durántez publicly said that she would be willing to help with the campaign but, unlike Cameron, she would be unable to take time off from work and her family life to take part. Asked by a Spanish newspaper whether she would quit her job, González Durántez said that "If Nick were Prime Minister and I had to give up my job to support the country, I would have no problem in doing so."[18]

Bibliography

  • Made In Spain: Recipes and stories from my country and beyond (Hodder & Stoughton, 2016) ISBN 9781473639003
  • Devuélveme el Poder: Why a liberal reform is needed in Spain (Península, Planeta, 2019) ISBN 9788499428574

References

  1. ↑ Kite, Melissa (20 March 2010). "I'm not as fortunate as Samantha Cameron, says Miriam Clegg". Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Joe Murphy, Political Editor (8 October 2013). "Miriam Clegg: It is silly to say women who care about fashion are stupid - Politics - News - London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2014. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  3. ↑ "Miliband: Wife Won't Introduce Me On Stage". News.sky.com. 10 September 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  4. ↑ González Caviedes, José Antonio Archived 18 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine SENADORES (HISTORIA)
  5. ↑ "'I'd give Nick 8/10 for Spanish', says Lib Dem leader's wife" Times Online, 16 September 2008
  6. ↑ "Miriam Gonzalez". Dechert website. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  7. ↑ "Legal firm that employs Nick Clegg's wife advised Gaddafi regime" Archived 25 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Tom Harper. London Evening Standard. 22 February 2011. Accessed 27 February 2011
  8. ↑ Our People - Miriam Gonzalez Archived 10 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine DLA Piper
  9. ↑ "Staff and trustees - Canning House".
  10. ↑ Robertson, Debora (5 October 2016). "Paella-gate? Nonsense - chucking in 'a bit of this and that' was the making of British cuisine". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  11. ↑ www.xavigort.com. "Who we are". www.inspiring-girls.com. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  12. ↑ Abigail Frymann Rouch; James Macintyre (24 April 2014). "Nick Clegg says he is agnostic 'at the moment'". The Tablet. Retrieved 17 August 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ The Nick Clegg story BBC News, 19 December 2007
  14. ↑ Nick Clegg may send sons to private school Times Online, 14 September 2008
  15. ↑ Wightwick, Abbie (16 April 2015). "She may not be able to vote in next month's election but the deputy Prime Minister's wife is a powerful political asset". WalesOnline. Media Wales. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  16. ↑ "Miriam González Durántez: 'I'm like a tigress when it comes to my children' | Politics". The Guardian. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  17. ↑ "Miriam Gonzalez Durantez on Instagram: "I normally don't comment on these things - but this really reaches new heights of double standards. Shocking seeing the Guardian…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  18. ↑ "Nick Clegg's wife Miriam: I'd quit job if he won". Daily Mirror. 18 April 2010.
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