EXCLUSIVE 'I beat my crippling panic attacks by tapping into the wisdom of our Stone Age ancestors - and you can too.' David Cameron's speech writer CLARE FOGES reveals how she beats her self-doubt and anxiety By Frances Hardy Published: 02:22, 25 May 2024 | Updated: 06:03, 25 May 2024 e-mail 4 View comments Clare Foges used to be chief speech-writer for prime minister David Cameron but today she is absorbed in the milky bliss of motherhood. Her fourth child, five-month-old daughter Romy, dozes and feeds intermittently while Clare, 43, cuddles her.
Romy does not cry for the duration of our chat. I forget she is even there. This is a first for me: a contented breast-feeding baby and an interview with a mum simultaneously so relaxed and engaged that she is able to talk intelligently and soothe her child at the same time.
All the more surprising, though, is the fact that a decade ago Clare, having reached the pinnacle of her Downing Street career, was besieged by self-doubt and anxiety. One panic attack was so debilitating it left her gasping for air. It was the 2013 Tory Party conference and PM Cameron was poised to deliver his keynote closing speech in Manchester.
Clare — who had written every word of the address, perfecting each nuance and inflection of meaning during the previous months — fled the hall, propelled by blind terror. 'As the prime minister took to the stage I felt the lights start to dance, the oxygen leave the room. I couldn't breathe.
I felt awful. I could.
