Former president Bill Clinton gave a warm insight into his relationship with his wife and Republican presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton on Tuesday (26 July). The former president stepped up to the podium during the second day of the Democratic National Convention and championed Hillary's skill as a mother and her lengthy, impressive political career as a "change-maker".

"In the spring of 1971 I met a girl," the 42nd president told the Philadelphia crowd, recalling the day he spotted her at Yale. "She had thick blond hair, big glasses, wore no makeup and she exuded this sense of strength and self-possession that I found magnetic," he said.

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It took three proposals before she finally said yes to marrying him, Clinton recalled to laughter.

"I married my best friend," he said. "We've been walking and talking, laughing together, ever since," he said. "We've done it in good times and bad, through joy and heartbreak. We built up a lifetime of memories."

Clinton's speech was historic: it marked the first time a spouse has spoken on behalf of a female nominated by a major party to run for president. It was doubly historic because the spouse is a former president himself.

Bill Clinton walked supporters through a lifetime of family and politics, recalling Hillary's work in the civil rights movement and on children's issues, and working as a helpmate and adviser when he became the youngest governor of Arkansas in 1979 and eventually president.

He hailed her list of accomplishments whilst holding post as senator of New York and then as a secretary of state, where she famously backed the plan to take down Osama bin Laden, and put climate change and LGBT rights into America's foreign policy.

He called her a "natural leader" who's "uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risks we face," adding to prolonged applause: "She's the best darn change-maker I've ever met in my life."

He asked: "How [can you] square [this] with the things that you heard at the Republican convention? You can't. One is real. The other is made up. You just have to decide which is which, my fellow Americans."

In a stab at GOP candidate Donald Trump, Clinton noted to immigrants: "If you love this country and are working hard, paying taxes, obeying the law, and want to become a citizen, you should choose immigration reform over somebody who wants to send you back.

"If you are a Muslim, and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together. We want you.

"If you are a young African-American disillusioned and afraid ...help us build a future where nobody is afraid to walk outside including the people that wear blue to protect our future."

He concluded: "Hillary will make us stronger together; you know it, because she spent a lifetime doing it. I hope you will elect her."

Hillary Clinton