Jeremy Corbyn's wife Laura Alvarez expected to adopt the lowest of profiles

In his acceptance speech Mr Corbyn urged the media not to harass his family

Nigel Morris
Monday 14 September 2015 08:45 BST
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Laura Alvarez was at the announcement but is not expected to appear in public regularly
Laura Alvarez was at the announcement but is not expected to appear in public regularly

Jeremy Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez, is likely to adopt the lowest profile of any UK political leader’s spouse in recent memory.

The couple met six years ago at a Latin American support group and married in her native Mexico in 2013.

Ms Alvarez, 46, who is Mr Corbyn’s third wife, runs a Fair Trade company importing coffee from Mexico.

She faced embarrassment recently when a newspaper revealed the meagre wages paid to some of the farmers producing the coffee.

Ms Alvarez has not spoken about her husband’s extraordinary surge to the Labour leadership and is not expected to appear regularly at his side. Mr Corbyn used his acceptance speech to urge the media not to harass his family, protesting that they had endured the “most appalling levels of abuse from some parts of our media” during the campaign.

“I say to journalists: attack public political figures, that’s OK, that’s what politics is about. But please don’t attack people who didn’t ask to be put in the limelight. Leave them alone. Leave them alone in all circumstances.”

In 1974 Mr Corbyn married Jane Chapman, a party activist and university lecturer, but the couple divorced five years later. He married Claudia Bracchitta, a Chilean with whom he had three sons, in 1987. Their marriage ended after 10 years amid a public dispute over her wish to send one of their sons to a grammar school.

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