Few celebrities can prevent a book being written about them. This is especially true in the West where the media is always attempting to satisfy people’s seemingly insatiable hunger for details about the private lives of the rich and famous. The latest casualty is the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie whose personal lives have been scrutinized by Paul Scott in a most entertaining book: “Tony & Cherie Behind the Scenes in Downing Street.” The author has based his story on years of research and unparalleled access to well-placed sources. The result is a riveting story about the second most famous political marriage after that of Bill and Hillary Clinton. However, unlike the president of the United States who, even before he was elected stated that his wife would play an important role in his administration, the advocates of the New Labor Party led by Tony Blair decided that Cherie Blair would remain publicly mute.
Like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Cherie Booth, was highly intelligent, a feminist and a successful lawyer.
She agreed to play a secondary political role only because she and her husband had made an agreement that the first to win a seat in the Commons would pursue a political career while the other supported the family financially.
Paul Scott gives a colorful description of life at 10 Downing Street: “The working day begins at 7:45 a.m.
His staff march into the flat as Blair is having his usual breakfast of toast, marmalade and herbal tea. The PM, still in his pajamas and slippers, is talked through the important events of the day, told of the major stories in the press that relate to the government and briefed about upcoming meetings... Blair returns to the flat at around 7 p.m. to see his family and, in recent years, to spend some much-needed time with his fourth child Leo, but the meetings continue in the yellow-painted living room of the flat which doubles as an office for the PM. Then, invariably, it is back downstairs for some official function or other, accompanied at every turn by his team.” Writing about her life in Number 10, Cherie acknowledges: “An enormous privilege but it can also impose unique stresses on family life... It can in no way be described as a normal family home but our children have found the staff here like a large extended family.” The author points out that many of us see politicians in less than human terms. After a grueling day at work, they go home to face the same domestic problems we have. But we tend to forget that they are often denied the normal pleasures we take for granted. It is always difficult for such a high-profile individual to go to a restaurant and since 9/11, it has become virtually impossible because of tight security regulations.
As a result, Blair hardly ever goes out to dinner and never goes out shopping. Presents for his wife are purchased by a member of his staff. Paul Scott remarks accurately that Blair has been effectively “cut from the people he is elected to lead.” He also tells us that Tony Blair doesn’t own a mobile phone because he doesn’t need one since he is never alone. Wherever he goes, he is accompanied by a team of advisers, bodyguards, PA’s and secretaries.
Most of the book’s spicy talk concerns Cherie Blair who has been described as performing the ‘Rottweiler’ role where her husband is concerned but sources close to Downing Street admit that Cherie knows that when her husband is exhausted, he will never tell his team he needs a break. “She can tell when he needs to call it a day. Cherie performs the Rottweiler role, but it is in his best interests.” The author takes relish in talking about Mrs. Blair’s faux pas and abuse of power. Eager to help her teenage son Euan prepare a debate on nuclear arms policy, her request for the relevant data involved civil servants from the Ministry of Defense.
Cherie Blair has been harshly criticized for her looks and then for trying hard to dress better. Her hairstyle at the beginning of her husband’s premiership was described as an “unflattering spiky fringe at the front and as a mullet at the back” but when she had a permanent hairdresser she was also criticized.
“Those who sympathize with Cherie’s position say she is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. It is impossible, they point out, for her to be judged fairly when it has been deemed necessary for the public to be kept in the dark about the person she really is,” says Paul Scott.
To her credit she accompanied her husband in January 2002, eight months after the fall of Kabul.
Security considerations included flying with no heating because of the risks from heat-seeking missiles and remaining totally silent for the duration of the flight to prevent enemy listening equipment on the ground picking up human voices. Even one of Blair’s staff acknowledged after that: “It was a terrifying experience. There was no question that it was a risk flying in there, but I don’t think anyone thought just how frightening it would be.” Cherie’s last child, Leo did also much to soften not only her ‘wicked witch’ image but also to dispel the idea of the queen’s legendary coldness. We learn in the book that the queen was besotted with the blond little boy at their first meeting. A Blair associate even says that the queen “adores Leo and when he was a baby she was holding him and cooing like a doting grandmother.” The headlines about the Blair’s luxurious holidays offered by their rich and famous friends (Cliff Richard, Silvio Berlusconi and even a Tory backer, Sir Anthony Bamford) never really damaged the couple’s reputation. After all which person in their position would not have similar friends? And the stories about Cherie’s interest in New Age healing therapies surely helped boost the sales of tabloids in the United Kingdom.
Paul Scott who himself has benefited from the public’s interest in the Blair’s to write this entertaining biography wonders who of the Browns or the Camerons will become the new tenant of 10 Downing Street. “How long will it be before we look back on the heady days of that building’s previous flawed incumbents and allow ourselves a nostalgic, wistful smile?” he asks.
