BRITAIN: An emotional Cherie Blair has admitted mistakes in her handling of the property purchases assisted by a convicted fraudster and the resulting controversy which has engulfed her husband's government. From Frank Millar, London Editor
During an unprecedented statement by a British prime minister's wife last night, Mrs Blair fought back tears when she explained her initial instinct to protect the privacy of her family - and particularly that of her son Euan, in his first year at university away from home - when originally confronted with questions about her purchase of two flats in Bristol by the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
Mrs Blair also acknowledged her second mistake in allowing allow someone she barely knew - the Australian fraudster Mr Peter Foster, boyfriend of her friend Ms Carole Caplin - to become involved in her family's affairs.
"I know I'm in a very special position, I'm the wife of the prime minister, I have an interesting job and a wonderful family, but I also know I am not superwoman."
At the same time Mrs Blair, an eminent QC, robustly rejected suggestions that she had sought to influence deportation proceedings against Mr Foster; defended her friendship with Ms Caplin, her so-called "lifestyle guru", who had been "a great help" to her following her husband's election as Labour leader, and said she believed the prime minister's press officers at Number 10 accepted that she "did not in any way set out to mislead them".
She repeated what had previously been in the public domain, that her telephone call to Mr Foster's solicitors - revealed by them - had been intended solely to assure her friend Ms Caplin that immigration proceedings against her boyfriend were being properly conducted.
While asserting that she chose her friends "carefully", Mrs Blair said she had been told Mr Foster had been in trouble in connection with trading standards offences but that he was "a reformed character". She admitted she should perhaps have asked more questions about a man she had met only once, briefly, before accepting his offer to help with the purchase of the properties. However she again repeated that Mr Foster had not been her financial representative and insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Mrs Blair apologised for the embarrassment the affair had caused her husband and his government and expressed confidence that those who knew her well knew she would not wish to hurt anyone. "Sometimes I feel I would like to crawl away and hide but I will not."
Downing Street will be hoping that Mrs Blair's statement - plainly forced by the constant drip-feed of allegations, fuelled by her originally misleading response - will draw a line under a controversy which has spiralled out of its control and endangered the Labour government's reputation for trust.
Number 10 had earlier signalled a counter-offensive, accusing sections of the media of engaging in "a campaign of character assassination" against Mrs Blair.
The Conservative shadow home secretary, Mr Oliver Letwin, called for a speedy independent inquiry into why Mr Foster was originally to be deported on December 18th but was then told this would be brought forward to last Friday. Although this arrangement was cancelled pending an appeal, Mr Letwin said: "It may be completely coincidental but I have to say it is very coincidental."
His colleague Mr David Davis meanwhile called for an independent arbiter to rule on the ministerial code governing such matters as "blind trusts" designed to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Funds from the blind trust were used to purchase two flats in Bristol where the Blair's eldest son Euan is going to university.