Labour MPs praise Cherie Blair for ‘honest’ statement

BRITAIN'S Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell praised Cherie Blair’s honesty and courage in making a public statement over the controversy that has surrounded her.

She called on the media to “lay off” the Prime Minister’s wife and said it would take a “pretty warped human being” not to draw a line under the affair.

“Cherie’s statement tonight would have been seen by millions of people and what shone out from her statement was her honesty, her directness, her courage in making the statement, her sense of regret that she had been the cause of all this difficulty for the Prime Minister, for her family... it’s impact on the Government,” she told Channel 4 News.

“She said that she regretted that. She admitted to her mistakes and frankly you have to be a pretty warped human being still not to be prepared to draw a line under this and say ‘OK, that’s fair enough, this is now the end of the matter’.”

Ms Jowell said the intensity of the media frenzy had been “pretty unpleasant”.

Mrs Blair had borne media criticism for years with “great dignity and with great presence” and been clear about her role.

“I think she is a great asset to us. We are very lucky that we have Cherie, that she is willing to put up with what’s thrown at her because she believes basically that what she is doing is worth it.”

She said her message to the media was to “lay off”. “There are far more important things,” Ms Jowell added.

Shadow Deputy Prime Minister David Davis expressed sympathy for Mrs Blair, but insisted her speech left key questions unanswered and called for an independent review of the incident.

“Conservatives made a policy decision to stay out of this in the first instance, because it appeared to be a private matter to her and her family,” he told Channel 4 News.

But it had become clear that the Downing Street media machine had been “used to mislead the media”, he said, and there were issues over the blind trust and possible interference in Mr Foster’s deportation.

Mr Davis went on: “Cherie Blair has, I think, been asked to do this by Number 10 in order to try and draw a line under it. Probably because they realise that these three other major issues are ones which are very serious.

“Actually they can’t be answered by Cherie any more. They can only be answered by someone who is independent of Number 10, outside the machine.”

Mr Davis insisted the question over interference in Mr Foster’s deportation remained unanswered.

“She says she didn’t interfere in it. We don’t know what the interference might have been.”

He stressed that “nothing could be taken at face value” and called for an independent review into the deportation order, misleading the press and the blind trust.

Reiterating that he sympathised with her position, he continued: “At the end of the day, the private issue has grown into three public policy issues which are actually even beyond her ability to answer because it’s not clear that she is in a position to answer them.”

Labour backbencher Andrew Mackinlay said Mrs Blair's frank and full explanation meant newspapers should now back off.

“I say well done to her. She came over as a good mum and gave a very candid account,” the Thurrock MP said. “I think for the press to pursue her now would be malevolent.

“With the benefit of hindsight she might have come forward sooner but there is this question of confidentiality and privacy. It seems to me there is now a full explanation and one which I think squares up.”