Fred Thompson's 'trophy wife' runs the show

She has sometimes been dismissed as a tanned and bleached blonde "trophy wife", only ever glimpsed in sleek and glamorous outfits on the arm of her much older spouse.

But in the past few days Jeri Thompson has suddenly emerged as the real political power behind her husband Fred's presidential campaign.

Mr Thompson, 64, a former senator and actor who is running second in most polls of Republican nominees even before he has officially declared his candidacy, last week replaced his campaign manager in a shake-up of his top team - which, it has emerged, was initiated by his wife.

Another senior aide quit after clashes with Mrs Thompson, a youthful-looking 40, who is in effect managing her husband's White House bid and has hiring and firing authority over staff, according to campaign insiders.

Philip Sherwell and Tim Shipman

This sounds all too familiar. There is still a good chance that Thompson will never actually enter the race. Even if he does, he has been exposed as yet another faux conservative, not all that different than Bush. He can't pull enough of the conservative base out to beat The Beast in Pants Suits.