Defiant Cherie Blair refuses to quit
Top lawyer says downing street cut-price memoirs are bringing legal profession into disrepute
Published:
Cherie Blair yesterday insisted she would not quit as a judge — despite being accused of bringing the legal profession into disrepute.
Mrs Blair expressed “sadness” after top barrister Gerald Butler QC branded revelations in her memoirs “inappropriate” but added defiantly: “I enjoy the law and intend to continue to practise.”
The wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair also rejected criticism for writing about the death of Dr David Kelly, saying it would have been “impossible” not to feature the government scientist in her book.
Iraqi weapons expert Dr Kelly is believed to have killed himself during the furore over the evidence of Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction which Mr Blair used to promote the need for the Iraq war.
Mrs Blair is said to have been given a £1million advance for her autobiography, which goes into great detail about life behind the famous Number 10 door.
It paints unflattering portraits of some top political figures including Gordon Brown, who is described as “rattling the keys” over Mr Blair in his rush to take charge of Downing Street.
But Mrs Blair, a high-flying QC, insisted she merely wanted to tell her story.
“One of my motivations in writing the book is, for the last 13 years really, since Tony became leader of the Labour Party, many people have written about me, have spoken about me but I have not spoken for myself,” she said.
“For me it was a time to look back on the last 50 years.”
In her memoirs, Mrs Blair speaks of her husband’s “shock” on learning of Dr Kelly’s death and how the couple invited his widow to Chequers so they could say “how personally sorry they were about what happened”.
But yesterday, Derek Vawdrey, brother of Dr Kelly’s widow Janice, said Downing Street was responsible for his death and that Mrs Blair should be “ashamed of herself” for using his suicide to bolster her husband’s image.
Mrs Blair said: “I’m sorry he feels like that but it’s very much a part of the story.
“We met the Kelly family later and I really don’t want to say any more about it than I said in the book.”
She added: “David Kelly’s death was a huge tragedy for the Kelly family but to tell the story about being in Number 10 and not to mention David Kelly I think would be actually really impossible.”
Former judge Mr Butler hit out at the memoirs yesterday, saying they were “not appropriate” and Mrs Blair “should not continue to sit as a recorder”.
But asked if she was going to resign, Mrs Blair said: “I certainly won’t. The law is very much an important part of my life.”
It is offering Speaking For Myself at £9.49 instead of the recommended retail price of £18.99.
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