Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair, also known as Cherie Booth QC (born September 23, 1954) is a prominent human rights barrister. She is married to Tony Blair, the present British Prime Minister.

Life

Her father, the actor Tony Booth, left her mother when Cherie was eight years old. Cherie and her sister, Lyndsey, were then raised by their mother Gale and their paternal grandmother Vera Booth, a devout Roman Catholic. Cherie and her sister both attended Catholic schools in Crosby, Lancashire. Cherie attended Seafield Convent Grammar which is now part of Sacred Heart Catholic College. Cherie has six half-sisters, including the journalist Lauren Booth.

She studied law at the London School of Economics and graduated with a First Class degree. She later came at the top of her year in the bar exams,"Profile: Cherie Blair", BBC, 19 June 2002 while teaching law at the University of Westminster. In 1976, while she was studying to become a lawyer, she met Tony Blair. She won a pupillage in the chambers of Derry Irvine ahead of him, although he was also taken on. Married on March 29, 1980, they have four children: Euan, Nicky, Kathryn and Leo.

Booth unsuccessfully contested the seat of North Thanet in Kent at the 1983 UK general election, losing to Roger Gale, while her husband was selected at the last minute for a safe seat in Sedgefield, County Durham in the same election.

Legal career

Booth became a barrister in 1976 and Queen's Counsel in 1995. In 1999, she was appointed a Recorder (a permanent part-time judge) in the County Court and Crown Court. She is Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, and Governor of the London School of Economics and the Open University. She is a founding member of Matrix Chambers, London, from which she continues to practise as a barrister. Matrix was formed in 2000 specialising in human rights law, though members also practise in a range of areas of UK public and private law, the law of the European Union and European Convention on Human Rights, and public international law"Areas Of Practice", Matrix Chambers

Booth specializes in employment, discrimination and public law and in this capacity has sometimes represented claimants taking cases against the UK government."Purja and Ors v Ministry of Defence", British and Irish Legal Information Institute, 21 February 2003

Controversies

In 2002, Booth hit the newspaper headlines in the scandal referred to as "Cheriegate" because of her involvement with Peter Foster, a convicted Australian conman, who assisted her with the purchase of two flats in Bristol. Booth tried to distance herself from Foster and briefed the press office at Number 10 to go public with a statement claiming that Foster was not involved with the deal. She was caught out when Foster provided evidence that she had lied. She went public herself, tearfully reading a prepared statement blaming her "misfortune" on the pressures of running a family and being a mother. She tried to distance herself from Foster, but it was later revealed that she and Tony Blair had agreed to be godparents to the yet-to-be born child of Foster and his partner Carole Caplin (Caplin later miscarried)"Cherie says 'sorry' for Foster dealings", BBC, 10 December 2002

Later in 2002 she apologized after seeming to sympathise with Palestinian suicide bombers saying that "As long as young people feel they have no hope but to blow themselves up, we're never going to make progress, are we?"."Suicide Bombing", BBC, 1 July 2002

Her relationship with Peter Foster's then-partner, the so-called "style guru" and former model Carole Caplin has given rise to headlines in some newspapers. Caplin is credited with introducing Booth to various New Age symbols and beliefs, including "magic pendants" known as "BioElectric Shields""Ev'rybody must get stones", The Observer, 8 December 2002. The most controversial of Booth's New Age practices occurred when on holiday in Mexico. She and Tony Blair, wearing only bathing costumes, took part in a rebirthing procedure that involved smearing mud and fruit over each others' bodies while sitting in a steam bath.How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World, Francis Wheen, Harper Perennial 2004, ISBN 0007140975

In 2003, after being invited to a Melbourne shopping centre and told to take a few items for free, she helped herself to 68 items. She subsequently paid £2,000 for the goods. "Cherie under attack: from fur in flight to freebies", The Guardian, 9 February 2005 This has left her with a reputation of "taking".

In 2005, while Blair was visiting Bush officially, she gave a private speech in Washington's Kennedy Centre where she was paid £30,000 for her appearance. She was criticized for leveraging government resources, Britain's ambassador and her husband's transport means to run private business.

In 2005, during a charity speaking tour of Australia, she was paid a £102,000 fee for after-dinner speaking, although the £82-a-head dinner raised £81,270, according to Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV). But only £6,690, or 8%, of the total funds raised went towards cancer research."Charity in trouble over Blair tour", The Guardian, 26 October 2005

Booth attracted some criticism for her handling the case of Shabina Begum, a student at the mainly-Muslim Denbigh High School in Luton, who was refused permission to wear full head-to-toe jilbab, when the school uniform code only permitted students to wear the shalwar kameez. For her client Booth claimed that it was about prejudice, however she was criticized for her involvement in the case when Shabina was being supported by the controversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, of which her brother Shuweb Rahman was a member.."Muslim girl wins battle to wear traditional dress in school", Times Online, 2 March 2005

In 2006, Booth caused controversy when it was revealed that the Labour party paid £7,700 bill for her personal hair stylist, Andre Suard, during the 2005 General Election campaign, a sum of £275 per day for the month leading up to the election. This angered some in the party, including Ex-minister Peter Kilfoyle, who claimed the bill was twice what he had spent on his election campaign in the Liverpool Walton seat. "Labour defends Cherie's hair bill", BBC News, Friday, 21 April 2006.

A recent controversy to hit Mrs Blair was when she was granted an audience with the Pope. The Vatican convention is that females meeting the Pontiff should wear black, preferably with a black veil, or mantilla. By contrast, Mrs Blair wrongly chose to exercise the "White privilege", granted only to the wives of Catholic monarchs. Currently, these are Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Paola of Belgium and Josephine Charlotte, the wife of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg. Queen Sofia exercised her privilege in a meeting with the previous Pope in 2003."White outfit, wrong occasion, Cherie", Telegraph, Monday, 29 May 2006.

In May 2006, Mrs Blair was involved in the signing of copies of the Hutton Report to raise funds for the Labour Party. The Hutton Report was a controversial report by Lord Hutton into the death of Dr David Kelly, and whether the government had lied over the claims to Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. £400 was raised. Both she and her husband have refused to apologize. "Labour Hutton auction criticised", BBC News, Tuesday, 23 May 2006 "Hutton Auction headlines"

Trivia

Cherie Booth is a relative of the American actor John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Abraham Lincoln."Cherie Blair - the John Wilkes Booth connection", Usenet"The Lincoln-Blair Affair", Genealogy Today]
She is well known for her "unfortunate" unphotogenic appearances in UK newspapers where the photo-journalists often capture unflattering shots, focusing in particular on her smile[http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/schule/0,1518,grossbild-155639-344372,00.html. This is sometimes captured as an open-mouthed broad grimace and has led to her appearance being compared by some to a so-called "Wide Mouth Frog" or the Crazy Frog.
In 2000, she was forced to pay a £10 fixed penalty fare after travelling on a train without a ticket."No ticket, so Cherie falls foul of the law", The Telegraph, 11 January 2000
She commented in a recent interview for the Times magazine, "You may have noticed I like nice young men."
In 2005, Bill Clinton urged Cherie to stand as a Member of Parliament when her husband retires. He offered, "If she ever campaigned for office and wanted me to go ringing doorbells for her, I’d be happy to do it."."Cherie for MP, says Clinton", Daily Telegraph, 8 August 2005
In 2006, Cherie Blair was the Keynote Speaker for the Graduation Ceremony of the American University in Dubai.
She is a close friend of English photographer Mary McCartney Donald, daughter of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

External links

''The following links were last verified 29 March 2006.

References