Why PM’s wife Sarah Brown rented gowns for G20 functions

Amid revelations that beleaguered taxpayers have to pay for Jacqui Smith's scatter cushions, and that Geoff Hoon and Alistair Darling have made a killing renting out their homes while living in grace-and-favour apartments, it has emerged that Sarah Brown, wife of the British Prime Minister, takes a more honourable approach to her state duties - by renting her own clothes.
 
During last week's G20 summit in London, Brown wore a number of outfits by designers such as Amanda Wakeley and Britt Lintner to the state functions she was obliged to attend. The glamorous jacket (above) she wore to welcome US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to Downing Street - by Scottish couturier Graeme Black – was reportedly worth as much as £9,000.
 
Now Downing Street has confirmed that Sarah, a former PR executive, hired many of these clothes, including an Amanda Wakeley gown for the state banquet for Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, and paid for the rental herself. Renting designer clothes generally costs around 10 per cent of the retail price - meaning that her clothing bills must run into hundreds of pounds.
 
Brown's approach is in contrast to that of her predecessor, Cherie Blair, who was pilloried for accepting free clothes or hefty discounts off designer outfits, some of which were negotiated by her former 'lifestyle guru' Carole Caplin. During her time in Downing Street, Mrs Blair allegedly told the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Richard Wilson, that she was entitled to cut-price designer clothes under the Human Rights Act. ·