Cherie – “Gordon Pushed Tony Out” – Surprise! Surprise!

• Home
• Cherie’s book extract, Part 1, as in The Times
• Read the Sun’s serialisation here – “How Dare Gordon Do That?”
• The Times – Tony advises Gordon now, but he didn’t trust Brown to retain his domestic policy changes
• Watch the BBC video on this

Comment at end

10th May, 2008

[Pic: No. 10 - Cherie Blair accuses her husband’s successor of "rattling the keys above his head" as far back as April 2004.]

BROWN’S AMBITION WAS TO SHIFT BLAIR

[Brown was determined to take over from Blair, as though it were his due]

BUT NOW TONY IS ‘HELPING GORDON TO WIN THE NEXT ELECTION’

(So he can’t quite manage it on his won, then?)

I had to add this link from Matthew d’Ancona in Sunday’s Telegraph because it makes some points that others have missed. For instance:

As I have written in this space before, the real problem between Tony and Gordon was not the hate but the residual love: what one Cabinet member described to me as “all that blood brother stuff”.

And this:

The central fact, the dominant narrative of the Blair years, was Brown’s demand for a departure date.

From the moment in May 1994 when it was agreed that Gordon would step aside and give Tony a clear run at the leadership, to June 2007 when Blair finally left Number 10, this running argument consumed the two men, poisoned their relationship and snarled up day-to-day administration.

Indeed, it sometimes seemed that the Labour Government was no more than a gigantic, fractious timetabling committee with a single issue on its agenda: how soon the PM would leave. All of which was most peculiar for the rest of us to behold, given that Blair racked up three election victories, two by landslide, exceeding even Margaret Thatcher’s aggregate of parliamentary majorities.

Why on earth would he resign just to give Gordon a turn, as if Number 10 were a Nintendo DS to be shared by the children? Since when was the governance of Britain organised on a rota basis? What a ridiculous way to run a country. Still, that is the way New Labour has run it.

Ancient history? Far from it. If the question for 13 years was “When will Tony go?” the question now is “Was it really worth it, Gordon?” Disconsolate, embattled, exhausted, Brown increasingly resembles the Macbeth of Act V, king in no more than title, wondering whether the whole thing was all, after all, “a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing.”

How shattering, after such a long wait in the ante-chamber of power, to find that the job is so hard, to be told every day that you are not up to it; perhaps, in your darkest moments, to wonder whether Tony was better qualified all along.

---

BACK TO CHERIE

“TONY SHOULD STILL BE PRIME MINISTER” SAYS CHERIE

The Sun has what it calls an ‘exclusive’ interview with Cherie Blair in the run-up to the publication of her book. The Times too has its own interview.

GORDON Brown HOUNDED Tony Blair out of office, the wife of the former PM dramatically claims today.

Cherie Blair accuses her husband’s successor of “rattling the keys above his head” as far back as April 2004.

She fought to stop him standing down.

Cherie, 53 — whose autobiography is being serialised in The Sun — says the two ARE talking now.

But she admits: “I thought he was putting too much pressure on Tony to leave when Tony wasn’t ready.”

In her book — and a bombshell interview [ ...] — the mum of four finally breaks her silence about life in Downing Street.

She exposes the truth behind the rifts, the rivalries, friendships and fallouts.

Top QC Cherie says: “Tony used to say in terms of ability that Gordon was way ahead of everyone.

“The irony is, if they’d only worked as closely as originally agreed, Gordon’s chance would have come sooner.”

Brown & Blair worked closely on the “New Labour” project

Theirs was a love/hate relationship

Brown felt he had been robbed of the top job in 1994 when Blair became leader. He felt it was his due that Blair should hand over the party leadership and premiership to him some time in the second term.

//////////

Cherie’s book is titled “Speaking For Myself” so Tony clearly knows his place and has little influence on what his top barrister wife says, or how she says it. I suppose we can be grateful that she says they are now talking and that Mr Blair is advising Mr Brown on winning the next election. Funny that. I’d have thought Gordon might have noticed how Tony did that already – over the last three elections. Maybe he wasn’t paying attention.

//////////

Read The Sun’s exclusive – by Victoria Newton

CHERIE Blair sensationally has confessed how she was enraged by Gordon Brown — as she lifted the lid in The Sun on what life was REALLY like at No10.

The ex-PM’s wife — in an exclusive interview with Britain’s No1 paper — told for the first time how she was UPSET at husband Tony being badgered to quit by his then Chancellor.

Mum-of-four Cherie spoke out as The Sun begins serialisation of her autobiography — in which she even admits to being LIVID when Gordon suddenly froze ministers’ pay.

Cherie claims it scuppered her plans for managing the family budget.

And she tells how when she found out, she held her head in her HANDS — exclaiming: “How dare Gordon do that!”

Her explosive book Speaking For Myself appears in The Sun next week. But in an intimate interview with me, she finally broke her silence about her ten years as a Prime Minister’s wife. Cherie, 53, candidly revealed to me:

Tony STUMBLED as he met the Queen — ending up with his face in her hand as he bowed to kiss it.

Just like Deputy PM John Prescott he battled with his WEIGHT — because of the endless round of banquets he had to attend.

She was never afraid of him CHEATING on her — and she told how as a busy mother of four she kept their MARRIAGE alive.

Their lives have now dramatically CHANGED since he left office.

Cherie — a working class girl from Crosby in Liverpool, who rose to become a top QC — was dubbed the Lady Macbeth of Downing Street while her husband held the country’s top job.

Critics slammed her as a money-grubbing Wicked Witch — only interested in the status and riches that came with Tony’s position.

But she seized her opportunity to finally put the record straight, telling of her struggle to hold down a marriage, run a family and still be a successful barrister.

Cherie told me: “There were times where I’d go into court in the morning after having my hair and make up done because I was going to a function later in the day — but I’d have to try and balance my wig so it didn’t completely ruin my hair.

“Then I’d go to the function, rush back to No 10, then back home to feed the kids. It was a very, very busy schedule.”

She added: “I was lucky though — I had a wonderful nanny and my mum would come up and help.”

Cherie was furious when Gordon Brown vetoed a 26 per cent pay rise for MPs — which had been agreed before Tony came to power.

She pointed out that at the time Gordon was a single man with no children — and claimed he sprang the move without consulting anyone.

But she stressed to me: “If I’ve had any problems with Gordon it was only because I thought he was putting too much pressure on Tony to leave when Tony wasn’t ready.

Strained hug … wife of PM greets Brown in 2002

“Gordon and I have had our ups and downs. And when it came down to it, I think Gordon would be astonished if I wasn’t my husband’s biggest supporter. I’m sure Gordon’s wife Sarah is his.”

The loathing she and her husband’s successor had for each other was legendary.

Cherie — who compared Tony to WINSTON CHURCHILL — stressed that her husband had always supported the new PM.

She revealed the pair have been talking a lot in recent weeks, with Tony apparently giving Gordon advice to help him turn things around in time for the next election.

Cherie threw her head back and roared with laughter when I asked her if she agreed with Lord Desai’s comment: “Gordon Brown was put on this planet to show how brilliant Tony Blair was.”

With a cheeky grin, she said: “Well, as his wife, I would say that Tony is brilliant.”

She reckons he should have CARRIED ON as PM instead of finally standing down to make way for Gordon last June.

Cherie said: “Tony always felt that this was a job he couldn’t do forever. He’d always thought two terms or maybe ten years.

“I favoured the ten years because it fitted in better with getting the children through school, doing their A-levels — that was from a purely selfish family point of view. There comes a time when you have to move on. I was very proud that Tony recognised that and moved on and made such a great transition..

“There had been many times before when he’d thought he might stand down and I told him I didn’t think it was the right time.

“I’m really proud that Tony left No10 on his own terms at a time when he left the country and the party in good shape.”

Cherie said: “It’s a hard and lonely job being PM and I think Tony was absolutely fantastic. But when he first went to see the Queen he stumbled and fell on her hand instead of just brushing over it with his lips like you’re supposed to. She told him her first PM was Winston Churchill. I said to him then her tenth PM was going to be as good as Winston Churchill. I, in my completely unbiased opinion, think he certainly did that.”

The toughest time for HER in Downing Street was the Fostergate scandal — when she was accused of allowing conman Peter Foster to negotiate a cheap price for her on two flats she was buying in Bristol.

But she is grateful she never had to go through anything like the torment her pal Hillary Clinton faced when hubby Bill’s fling with Monica Lewinsky was exposed.

Asked if she ever worried about Tony cheating on her, she declared: “Never. Tony is a deeply religious person and he takes his wedding vows very seriously. He’s probably more religious than I am. He’s the one who has chosen to become a Catholic now and he has his morals and takes it seriously. I’m much more lacksidasical.”

She revealed she fancied him from the first moment they met — adding: “I still do.”

She said their lives have been transformed since leaving No10.

Slimline Tony has even beaten his weight problem.

Cherie said: “When he was in No10 he would go to the gym. It’s a great release of the pressure. I think he’s lost weight more recently because he doesn’t have as much stress now that he’s not in the job.

Also, as Prime Minister quite often you are literally eating for your country at state functions.” The couple have bought a new house in the country now they have more time to spend together.

Cherie admitted: “I think to some extent we certainly have got our lives back.”

Did she have any advice for Sarah Brown? Cherie said: “Hillary Clinton did give me some good advice. She said, in the end, you aren’t going to be able to win.

“There are going to be some things that people will criticise, and you’ve just got to remember the most important thing is to be true to yourself, and do what you feel comfortable doing. So if that’s advice, then I pass it on.”

v.newton@the-sun.co.uk

Updates to the above Sun article can be read here, including:

Cherie admitted it was tough holding a marriage down and running a family while being a barrister.

She explained: “There were times where I’d go into court in the morning after having my hair and make-up done because I was going to a function later in the day, but I’d have to try and balance my wig so it didn’t completely ruin my hair. Then I’d go to the function, rush back to No10, then back home to feed the kids.

“It was a very, very busy schedule. I was lucky though — I had a wonderful nanny and my mum would come up and help.”

In the flesh, I found Cherie much slimmer, prettier and younger-looking than I imagined.

Her toughest time at No 10 was the Fostergate scandal — when she was accused of allowing conman Peter Foster to negotiate a cheap price on two flats she was buying in Bristol.

But she is grateful she never had to go through the torment Hillary Clinton faced when Bill’s fling with Monica Lewinsky was exposed.

Was she ever worried about Tony cheating on her? “Never. Tony is a deeply religious person and takes his wedding vows very seriously.

“He’s probably more religious than I am. He’s the one who has chosen to become a Catholic now. He has his morals and takes it seriously. I’m much more lacksadaisical.”

Now the couple have more time to spend together and have just bought a house in the country.

Cherie said: “To some extent we certainly have got our lives back.”

Slimline Tony has won the weight battle he fought as PM. Cherie said: “I think he’s lost weight because he doesn’t have as much stress.

“As Prime Minister, quite often you are eating for your country. On visits to Arab countries, if you eat everything on your plate they take that as meaning you haven’t had enough. So they give you more.”

Cherie joked she has had to teach Tony to use a mobile phone and surf the internet — because as PM others did those tasks for him.

She said: “It’s a lonely job being PM and Tony was fantastic. But when he first went to see the Queen, he fell on her hand instead of brushing over it with his lips.

“She told him that her first PM was Winston Churchill. I said to him her tenth PM was going to be as good as Churchill. In my unbiased opinion, he did that.”

You can’t help but admire Cherie for her unswerving loyalty to her husband, and you have to respect all she has achieved. For a working class girl from Crosby in Liverpool, she’s not done too badly.

//////////

AND ANOTHER THING … IN THE TIMES …

The Times – The Truth About Tony & Gordon

Tony Blair is advising Gordon Brown during his current turmoil and has told him how he can win the next general election, Cherie Blair reveals in The Times today.

She says that Mr Blair would have stood down before the 2005 election if only Mr Brown had been prepared to implement her husband’s public service reforms.

Mr Blair suffered a “crisis of confidence” over Iraq and feared that he had become an electoral liability. But with Mr Brown “rattling the keys above his head” he decided to stay and fight for his domestic legacy.

Mr Brown failed to understand that if he had backed Mr Blair’s plans on city academies, foundation hospitals and pensions, “Tony would have stood down, there is no question”, she says. “Instead of which Tony felt he had no option but to stay on and fight for the things he believed in.”

Mrs Blair’s disclosures are contained in her autobiography, Speaking for Myself, which is serialised in The Times today and next week, catching the political and publishing worlds unawares as it was originally intended to appear in October.

It provides the most authoritative account so far of the reasons why Mr Blair decided not to stand down before the 2005 election and lays bare the tensions throughout the Blair years between the Prime Minister’s wife and the Chancellor then.

In an interview with The Times and in extracts, Mrs Blair:

— Demolishes the myth of the Gran-ita pact. It has always been suggested that Mr Blair and Mr Brown struck a deal over the leadership in the Isling-ton restaurant of that name. In fact, she says, the discussions took place in her sister’s home days earlier;

— Reveals that she told Mr Blair in 1994 that it would be “ridiculous” that he should agree with Mr Brown to have only one term as leader;

— Reveals that Mr Blair used to tell Mr Brown that if he wanted to be leader he needed to get married;

— Discloses her fury with Mr Brown after he told ministers at Labour’s first Cabinet meeting in 1997 not to take a 26 per cent pay rise. “How dare Gor-don do that? What did he know about financial commitments? He was a bachelor living on his own in a flat with a small mortgage”;

— Denies that her former “style guru” Carole Caplin is “dodgy”, says that it was her idea that Ms Caplin should give Mr Blair massages and insists that it was Ms Caplin who “kept me thin”.

She insists that she takes no pleasure from Mr Brown’s current difficulties even though “Gordon’s impatience” to take over from Mr Blair was a problem that her husband could have done without.

She acknowledges “the problem between Gordon and me” but denies that it is anything personal. It was because she had thought that her husband was the best person for the job. “So I was just terribly partisan for Tony and I’m sure Sarah is partisan for Gordon, and so she should be.”

Mrs Blair categorically denies the claim by Lord Levy recently that Mr Blair did not think that Mr Brown could beat David Cameron. “Lord Levy doesn’t know anything,” she says. “I know that Tony thinks Gordon could win the election and I know that he has spoken to Gordon about how he could do that. Tony has given Gordon advice. He and Gordon talk to each other even now.”

In the book Mrs Blair says that Mr Blair made it plain to Mr Brown in 1994 that he had no intention of remaining leader for ever and that when he did stand down he would support Mr Brown as his successor. “My own reading of the myth – that is, that a deal was done at Granita – was that Gordon didn’t want to admit that he’s agreed anything without first discussing it with his people.”

//////////

Read the first part of Cherie’s memoirs – Speaking for Myself, as in The Times, 10th May 2008

And here in The TImes Online, Roland White says:

Cherie counts the cost of not knifing Gordon in her memoirs

Tony Blair is teaching Gordon Brown how to win elections. Or so says Cherie Blair. Yet if the beleaguered prime minister wants marketing tips from a really classy operator, perhaps he should watch Cherie in action instead.

The former prime minister’s wife has written a book about her time in Downing Street. Called Speaking for Myself, it will be serialised this week in The Times and The Sun.

From yesterday’s coverage you might have got the impression that Cherie will be telling all. Yet only last month Atticus revealed that she is leaving out the juiciest bits under pressure from Tony.

“Cherie is desperate to really go for Gordon,” a source close to the Blairs told us. “After all, she was the one that had to listen to Tony, night after night, complaining about what a nightmare Gordon was.” In fact, I can reveal that Cherie has lost £200,000 in serialisation rights because she refuses to plunge the knife into Gordon’s back, let alone twist it.

Mrs Blair, a lifelong Labour supporter, presumably hopes Gordon can repay her by winning the general election. Which now seems about as likely as John Prescott turning down a second helping.

How others are reporting this story

Associated press: Cherie to Tony – “If you agree with Gordon … one term only, don’t come back home”

“It was always a given that they would work in tandem and that when Tony stood down Gordon would take over. Tony also made it clear to Gordon that he had no intention of staying leader forever and that when he did stand down he would support Gordon as his natural successor, assuming they worked well together … in the meantime,” she wrote.

“As far as I know the timing was never discussed but when Tony left for Lyndsey’s, I made my position perfectly clear, even if I framed it as a joke. ‘If you agree with Gordon that you’re going to do this for one term only, don’t come back home. Because that’s just ridiculous,’” she wrote.

The Press Association says her comments risk re-opening old wounds as Brown suffers in the polls, (real and opinion.)

Yahoo News says it might be a surprise that Blair is helping Brown to win the next election, given that Brown pushed Blair out. (Perhaps ‘the project’ is more important than the men.)

Here, The Times describes the secrecy and sadness behind Mrs Blair’s success in evading the press as to her book’s early release. Good for her. Neither she nor her husband are now accountable to the ferals.

This Reuters report mentions the fact that Blair hung onto power longer than he might have because he feared Brown would undo his public service reforms. He was probably right. Up until June 2007 Blair worked like crazy to embed his Health & Education reforms. Now, Brown cannot undo them, even if he wanted to.

SG Politics says: Her disdain for him [Brown], and her admirable belief in her husband, only reawakes memories of when Labour used to win things – under Tony. She also suggests that Tony would have stood down earlier if he had any confidence in Brown’s willingness to maintain his public service reforms.

My thoughts:

I’ve been watching The Sun’s slow move to the Right since Blair left – and even for some time before that. They have been on the lookout for some time for a decent Tory leader that they can trust. Now that Mr Blair has gone – and they DID trust New Labour at one time – I venture it won’t be long before The Murdoch empire moves sharply right.

Cameron might just fit the bill. This is almost inevitable, notwithstanding the fact that Cameron is no Blair. Blair, free from Brown’s reluctance, is now FAR too European for Mr Murdoch, a virulent europhobe. And the EU presidency campaign, which I do NOT believe is over, but perhaps has only just begun, will have hammered the nail in the Blair / Labour coffin for sure. Blair, Murdoch, Brown and Cameron all know that.

It will be with interest that we watch David Cameron try to find a sure-footing when the EU question – the Tory fault line – is next raised.

Perhaps there’s your next big campaign, Mr Brown. Persuade the British people that they really DO need to be proper Europeans. After all you are just about Murdoch-less now. Nothing to lose.

All change at the top?

---

Other related pages at this site:

• Blair: Abdication or Political Assassination?
• View Blair Videos
• NEW BLOG! Bring Back Tony Blair
  
• All Contents of Site – Index
• Go to the start of Original Post, as at site’s launch
• Watch my videos on Tony Blair at YouTube
• Blair: “My last party conference as party leader”
• Transcript: Tony Blair’s Conference Speech 2006

---

---

---

Tags: 1. Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, Brown (Gordon Brown & his Labour Government, from June 2007), Brown was rattling the keys of downing street over Tony, Carole Caplin, cherie blair accuses brown, cherie booth memoirs, gordon pushed tony out, Granita restaurant, labour party uk, Rupert Murdoch, Speaking For Myself, The Sun, The Times, tony should still be prime minister