Loose Women star's tears in front of boss after calls for her to be sacked
Charlene White has shared her own experiences of shedding tears at work, following Rachel Reeves ' emotional moment last week. The Chancellor made headlines when she was spotted wiping away tears behind Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in the House of Commons, last Wednesday.
The 46-year-old later explained that she was upset due to "personal reasons" and admitted it had been "a tough day".
In her new column for the i Paper, the Loose Women presenter reflected on the first time she let her emotions take over in the workplace.
Recalling an incident in 2013, Charlene said she was targeted by English Defence League supporters for not wearing a poppy on Remembrance Day.
"I've explained my reasons why [I don't wear one], and that I come from a forces family," she explained.
"I wear a poppy in my private life, I donate to the Royal British Legion, and I think their work is incredible."
While the 45-year-old initially tried to ignore the backlash, she recalled how being subjected to racist abuse for several days eventually took its toll.
"By the time Monday came, and another day at work, the abusive tweets had reached the hundreds. It included a 'sack the s**g' campaign, which encouraged people to sign a petition and call in to ITV demanding my removal," she reflected.
Charlene was later urged to write a statement explaining her reasons for not wearing a poppy, though claimed this was stopped by some bosses at the time.
Additionally, she was advised to dismiss the abuse as "it would blow over".
"It was at that point, for the first time in my working life, I burst into tears in my boss' office, unable to cope with the weight of the abuse of the previous days," she said.
Charlene said she "frantically" tried to wipe away her tears and conceal her emotions, in fear that she was at risk of losing her job.
"Despite everything that had happened, I was terrified about how the tears would make me look," she confessed.
"Robin, [her managing editor at the time] though naturally shocked by my tears, sat with me as I cried and calmed me down.
"That moment was a turning point in what had been an awful few days.
"He and my then boss, Geoff, decided to publish my statement regardless of previous instructions, and that's when things started to improve."
Fast forward the years and Charlene has observed a shift in attitudes towards expressing emotions.
She noted that there are now "many of us [who] stress less about the minutiae of tears", adding: "Because, shocker, it's not a reflection of how good women are at ours jobs and I'm here for it."
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That, however, may simply have fuelled her fire: 'When the Conservatives lose the 1929 election, she takes on causes that are remote from what party leadership wants to do,' says Gray. 'She becomes more rebellious, she is the 'Red Duchess', not quite part of the political establishment. Kitty had become concerned by fascist movements in Europe, and unlike others, took time to read Hitler's full German version of Mein Kampf which laid bare horrifying detail of his true vision. Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister (1937-1940), who pursued a policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany (Image: PA) Appalled, she spoke out against Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement, setting her at odds with many political companions and going further than even Sir Winston Churchill dared to go. 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Right-wing papers dubbed her the 'Red Duchess' while her warnings about the risks of appeasing Hitler prompted Neville Chamberlain's government to try to silence her. Frustrated, Kitty quit her seat to fight a by-election as an independent and unleashed the full Tory machine against her. Landowners threatened tenants, posters were refused display, and one Liberal supporter told her plainly: 'You have been deserted by your ain class.' A telegram, almost certainly a prank, arrived from "Stalin," praising 'Katherine the even Greater.' Kitty lost her seat but would not be hushed. She had already travelled widely in Europe, and had contacts across Romania, Czechoslavakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. As the war progressed, she became increasingly worried about the Soviet Union's post-war ambitions. Having campaigned in 1943 for aid to Stalingrad and championed the knitting of winter clothes for Russia, realised ahead of most of her contemporaries that Stalin was outmanoeuvring the West in shaping the post-war settlement. Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) makes his VE Day Broadcast to the world. (Image: Getty Images) She penned countless warning letters to senior politicians including long term family friend Churchill, much to the annoyance of Downing Street staff. It would lead to one of her most intriguing roles. Elma Dangerfield was the widow of a naval officer who had been working for the intelligence service, MI9. She saw Kitty as a valuable potential figurehead for a new organisation, the British League for European Freedom, which on the surface sought to highlight the plight of those behind the Iron Curtain. Soon a sister organisation, the Scottish League for European Freedom (SLEF), was launched with charismatic former spy John Finlay Stewart, a long-time friend of the Atholls, at its helm. Again, Kitty became its highest profile supporter. The SLEF appeared to be an organisation driven mainly by genteel ladies of leafy Morningside and Edinburgh's New Town. Amid tea and scones, they raised money for Ukraine's poor and homeless and brought refugees to safety. Read more by Sandra Dick: It would only emerge many years later that it was really a front for a shadowy M16 operation, which hand-picked 'refugees' to train as covert operators against the USSR. Kitty, unwitting or not, had lent the operation a veneer of respectability. Soon her health was failing. Kitty died in 1960, her final years clouded by dementia. Too outspoken for comfort, she was often written out by political opponents who preferred to tell their own story of achievement. Duchess of Atholl, at the Barnardo's Homes Festival, a benefit for the Barnardo's children's charity, at the Royal Albert Hall, London, January 1929 (Image: Topical Press Agency/) Still, Kitty Stewart-Murray, fuelled by personal sorrow and dedicated to public service, left a lasting imprint. 'She was incredibly shy – surprising, for a woman who did what she did,' Gray adds. 'Her inability to have children was a big turning point. 'As a duchess her first duty was to produce the next duke, and she failed in that. 'The sadness that she couldn't be a mother never left her, but it also opened her life up to being different,' adds Gray. 'When we look at the causes she chose… I think that she is finding substitute children.' Red Duchess: Kitty Atholl, A Rebel in Westminster by Amy Gray is published by The History Press on 18 September.
