Cherie Blair: Second Chance for First Lady

“What’s your favourite book then?” Cherie Blair sits down opposite me with an expectant expression. As I rack my brain for an answer I realise there is something almost imposing about this eloquent and distinctly intelligent woman. As the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, she has in recent years been both lauded as a political asset and slammed as a liability.

In Speaking for Myself the barrister carries on in this vein, opening the door to ten years of Downing Street life. “The cabinet secretary was very insistent, I could not write about myself and what was happening in No. 10 while I was there”. She only broke the silence two years after her husband’s resignation, a decision which has been harshly judged by some of her critics. Of her book she says, “I often use the word catharsis—I put my side of the story, the case of the defence if you like.” As the first person in her family to go to university; graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Ms Blair entered what was then a male-dominated profession. The resilience this requires means that she is used to defending herself.

Her relationship with the press was strained from her first day in number 10. Rarely being allowed to voice her own opinions, she was often silenced by spin-doctor, Alistair Campbell, who feared her opinions would be taken to represent her husband’s views or Labour policy. “I think it might have been a good strategy when we first came in, but it wasn’t a good strategy in the end." Anyone who thinks she has influence over Labour policy is wrong, she adds.

Today though, things are different. “I have strong views, about women’s rights and about street crime. In fact, praise to what goes on in Scotland, with the violence reduction unit based in Glasgow—now, that sort of thing I could never say while my husband was prime minister.” She admits dealing with the press is easier than in the past, if still not perfectly simple.

Censorship of the past, however, seems to be partly responsible for her book. It shows a side unknown to many: a woman who, in spite of not being perfect, has her own story to tell. The ex-Prime Minister’s wife almost beat him to becoming an MP - she herself being the Labour candidate for Thanet in the 1983 general election. Since then, speculation has been rife as to whether she regretted not standing again and how it was ending up in No. 10 as “the wife”. (Upon being asked this she seems to know exactly what to answer, lighting up like the girl who knows all the answers in class) “I think Tony is a far better politician than I’d ever be, and I know that I’m a better lawyer”—apparently her husband admits to the latter point as well.

Clearly proud of what her husband has achieved, she stresses that she is fully committed to “the cause”— she has been a member of the Labour party since she was 16. There is no denying that she was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a “ringside seat” to history as she puts it. It shows in her book, where anecdotes of Clinton, Berlusconi, Bush and Brown are abundant, as well as inside accounts of 9/11 and the decision to go to war in Iraq. But on being asked how it really was to be put in the “representing-wife” position, her answer is surprisingly humble: “I was not the one who was elected”, and after a momentary pause adds, “and in that position, I am not the important one—a very solitary lesson for me”. With a laugh she continues, “Also, you know, I happen to like my husband, so there are those benefits.”

Now a Queen’s Counsel and a prominent barrister (currently working on a case of pensioners against the RBS) looking back on her career, staying true to herself during her stressful life as a first lady has been her dignifying strength. As a barrister she was able to have her own voice far from the one controlled by Downing Street where she would always be seen as representative of her husband. “In the court-room I was responsible. It belonged to me”. She managed to keep her career going during the years her husband was in office—on top of raising four children.

On that note Ms Blair points out that women today are under immense pressure to “have it all”: “I think working mums are always looking to apologise that they aren’t good mothers or employees—now, that is a vast generalisation, but we women tend to beat ourselves up. Men don’t think that way. No one can have it all, and we shouldn’t kid ourselves to think men have it either.”

Her book provides insight into the life of a man who changed British politics for a decade under the banner of “new labour”. “I think people have a legitimate right to know a little bit about the nature of the person. I almost said the nature of the man, but I wouldn’t say that because I certainly also think it can be the nature of the woman; we’ve had a woman prime minister, and I hope not the last one”. She might have changed the gender of some of  the candidates at the upcoming general election if she could, but for now, Cherie Blair is enjoying life after Downing Street.