General Election 2015: Are The Party Leaders' Wives The Secret To Their Success?

After weeks of campaigning, the UK goes to the polls today in the General Election 2015.

With 22 million people failing to vote in the last election, the party leaders have been doing everything they can to persuade people to get out and vote – including bringing their wives on the campaign trail.

But who are the ladies that stand beside David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg – and are they the secret to their success?

Samantha Cameron, wife of David Cameron, Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party

Born Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield in 1971, the PM’s wife grew up in Normanby Hall, a mansion set in a 300-acre estate in North Lincolnshire. She attended private school in Oxfordshire before taking A-Levels at the prestigious Marlborough College (the same as Kate Middleton).  She later studied for a degree in Fine Art at UWE Bristol.

The 44-year-old met David Cameron as a teenager, through one of her Marlborough College schoolfriends, his sister Clare. She later went on holiday to Tuscany with the Cameron clan and their relationship blossomed soon after – before becoming a vital part of the Conservative campaign.

Until her husband became PM, Samantha worked full-time as a Creative Consultant to luxury leather company Smythson – but she switched to two days a week when he entered Number 10 (as well as to spend more time with the couple’s three children).

But she’s since combined her love of fashion with politics, by serving as an ambassador for the British Fashion Council and volunteering for the charity Dress For Success, which gives free clothes to unemployed women to wear for job interviews.

Her work with Smythson also earned her a Glamour Award for Best Accessory Designer and she has a keen interest in fashion, even aspiring to create her own fashion collection in the future.

The couple went through tragedy in 2009 when their son Ivan, who suffered with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, died at the age of just six.

Many people have referred to SamCam as David’s ‘secret weapon’, but in a recent interview with Grazia, she admitted she doesn’t believe that to be true.

“It’s flattering but I’m not sure it’s true. I am always terrified that I am one step away from putting my foot in it,” she said.

In his recent Tory campaign trail, the 48-year-old PM has opened up more about his personal life at Downing Street – including his relationship with Samantha.

He admitted to proposing to his now-wife in a rather unromantic setting – watching the gangster film, ‘Mean Streets’ at home on the couple’s sofa.

“Finding her and persuading her to marry was quite a challenge,” he said.

“She's a lot better looking. And yes when I first proposed she didn't absolutely leap at it.”

He’s also conducted an interview with the BBC inside his Oxfordshire home, allowing voters to get a sense of David Cameron The Family Man rather than David Cameron The PM.

Could this ‘secret’ side to Mr. Cameron, as husband to Samantha and father to Nancy, Florence and Elwen, be what sets him apart from the rest?

Justine Miliband, wife of Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party

Born Justine Thornton in Manchester in 1970, she juggles a career as a high-flying environmental lawyer alongside raising the couple’s two children and campaigning for the Labour party in her spare time.

She attended a co-ed school in Nottingham before going on to read Law at Cambridge – but not before being a child actress in between!

Justine joined the Central Junior Television Workshop (a school that offers free performing arts training for young people) before starring in a number of TV shows, including ‘Hardwicke House’ and ‘Dramarama.’

Sadly we won’t be seeing the Labour party leader’s wife on ‘Downton Abbey’ as she pursued a career in the legal sector, rather than dramatic arts.

She was a hugely successful barrister before meeting her husband in 2002 – and she hasn’t let Ed’s quest for Number 10 get in the way of her own legal career.

If SamCam puts her husband’s career before her own - Justine certainly doesn’t, famously saying that the role of a politican’s wife is ‘not a role I applied for, darling.’

The 44-year-old has said on the record that she fits door-knocking and campaigning around her own job, which she won’t be quitting if her husband reaches Number 10, and raising the couple’s two children, Daniel and Samuel.

“I don’t feel I’ve been held back [by being a political wife]. I spend most of my time at work, but people don’t see that. I’m fitting in campaigning around my job,” she told Grazia.

But like David, Ed has opened up more about his home and family life in recent months, saying his wife is the one that keeps him ‘grounded.’

But will she keep him grounded if he makes it to Number 10? We shall have to wait and see.

Miriam González Durántez, wife of Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats

Miriam is arguably more successful than her husband (she certainly earns more than he does) and has been labelled the ‘most likable woman in British politics’.

Spanish-born Miriam, 46, studied Law at a Spanish university, before doing a postgraduate degree in European Politics and Law in Bruges, where she met future Lib Dem Leader, Nick Clegg.

But she’s so much more than a politician’s wife – and has strived to be so.

Not only is she a partner at international law firm Dechert, she is also the founder of Inspiring Women Campaign – while splitting childcare 50/50 with her husband and launching a food blog. Sounds like superwoman to us.

While SamCam took a very prominent role in her husband’s 2010 election campaign, Miriam took more of a back-seat, saying she wouldn’t be able to take time off work – and raising the couple’s three sons – to help.

She's also opted not to be known as 'Mrs Clegg'.

Fast-forward to 2015 and Miriam has had a much more visible presence in the UK media, but that’s due to her own accolades and interests – not her husband’s.

Her Inspiring Women campaign is simple but effective. Launched in November 2014, it is essentially getting professional career women to talk to teenage girls about their careers. Since then, she’s got 12,000 women to talk to 180,000 girls.

But though she leaves her husband to his work while she gets on with her own, she has strong opinions and isn't afraid of having her say. And she's made it clear she things the men in Westminster have a few things to learn.

“Every single politician would learn more about the state of the country outside the school gates than sitting in hours of meetings,” she told the Standard.

Motivated, beautiful and successful - perhaps Miriam should have been a bigger part of the 2010 and 2015 campaigns, the Lib Dems might have had a whole different experience if she had.

[Live updates: The UK goes to the polls]

[Labour’s Catherine West ‘Women Are Bearing The Brunt Of The Coalition Cuts']