Hays Travel chair Dame Irene Hays told former US First Lady Hillary Clinton of her late husband John’s pride in his agents as they shared cod, chips and mushy peas in a South Shields chip shop this summer.
Giving the opening address at the Hays Travel annual conference in Bodrum today (November 9), Hays revealed she swapped stories with Clinton about their respective husbands in June.
Hays had been invited by former MP David Miliband to hear Clinton give an address in his former constituency before taking her to the fish and chip shop.
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Hays said: “I was there by invitation to be with someone really special and she happened to have eight security guards with her while we were having cod, chips and mushy peas.
“Halfway through the evening, I said to her ‘what is Bill up to? What’s he been doing since he retired?’”
Clinton told Hays that he enjoyed writing novels in partnership with James Patterson.
“This is what he enjoys doing the most,” said Clinton.
Hays was then asked by Clinton what her husband enjoyed. “I said to her what he liked best was to stand up at our managers conference and look out to all of the people who made Hays Travel the success that it is,” she explained.
“He’s not here, so I am going to have to do it for him,” said a visibly emotional Hays on stage.
Hays’ husband John, who founded Hays Travel in 1980, died aged 71 in November 2020.