Blair `up there with Churchill`

Blair `up there with Churchill`

1.10.2008

former British prime minister Tony Blair will go down in history in the same bracket as Winston Churchill, Blair`s wife Cherie claims in a new interview.

While comparing her husband to the revered World War II prime minister, the outspoken barrister admits her own image suffered during her time in Downing Street.

"I`m sure history will judge him very well. I think he`ll be up there with Churchill," she told the November issue of the magazine Vanity Fair, describing Blair`s decade in office from 1997 as "fantastic".

But of her own media profile, she said: "Just looking at the press cuttings, you couldn`t say that it was a triumph, could you!"

The "PR wasn`t very good - that`s for sure", she said.
 
Asked what her mistakes were, she replied: "The list is potentially endless. But in the end, it`s pretty trivial. You try and do your best, but you`re only human."

When people tell her about negative headlines, "Your instant feeling is: Oh my God, what have I done now! When in fact you haven`t done anything."

Mrs Blair said she backed her husband`s decision in taking Britain into the war in Iraq, which started in March 2003 amid allegations that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

"Absolutely I did," she said.

"(Ousted Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein had been defying the international community for 12 years, he was perceived to be dangerous, everyone believed he had these weapons, and the issue was: How do we deal with that?

"I did not know all the information, but I trusted Tony to make the right decision. Do I agree with Tony on everything? No. Do I think Laura (Bush) agrees with (US President) George (W Bush) on everything? No.

"But if you ask me do I trust Tony to make the big decisions wisely - yes."

Mrs Blair - who uses her maiden name Cherie Booth in her legal work - was often derided in the British press for her fashion sense.

The 54-year-old said clothes were never an important part of her career and voiced relief that her husband was not still in office when Nicolas Sarkozy and his ex-model wife made a state visit to Britain in March 2008.

"I felt a deep sense of relief when Carla Bruni came over with the French president and I wasn`t the one who had to stand next to her, because that isn`t really a fair comparison, is it!" Mrs Blair said.

"Since I`m not a fashion model, there`s a limit to how nice I can make myself. I don`t regard myself as an ugly person, but I don`t think of myself as someone who would choose to be a model.

"I`m somebody who might be, I`d like to think, a role model for people who want to become lawyers."

Former PM Tony Blair, 55, is now an international envoy working for peace in the Middle East.

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