Gordon has reason to fear Cherie's pen

Following on from Fraser: if I was Gordon, the news that Cherie is writing her memoirs would be one pre-conference headline I would not be happy about. The Campbell diaries were quite openly and systematically edited to avoid embarrassment to Prime Minister Brown. I would be amazed if Tony Blair’s autobiography is an exercise in score-settling. First, as I wrote in my Sunday Telegraph column at the weekend, the two men are getting on better than they have for many years. The arch-Brownite Ed Balls, once a ferocious critic of the ex-PM, has been telling colleagues that he hopes his new report on the prospective economic regeneration of the Palestinian territories will be of help to “Tony” in his new role as Middle East envoy. Second, Mr Blair himself is much more preoccupied with redeeming his reputation over Iraq than telling the world about his past battles with Mr Brown. The priority is to make good all that he lost over the war rather than to prove that he was thwarted at home for ten years as PM.

In marked contrast, the other Blair – Cherie – has no such qualms about the man who she believes subverted her husband’s premiership from the start. I am told that she has taken the exit from Number Ten a lot harder than Blair himself and is less comfortable in her new life than he is in his. Remember: only a year ago a furious row erupted at Labour’s conference in Manchester over Cherie’s all-too-obvious contempt for the man in the ante-chamber. The then Chancellor was telling the party audience: "It has been a privilege for me to work with and for the most successful ever leader and Labour prime minister" 

As she watched the speech on a big screen, Cherie is alleged to have said: "Well, that's a lie". She denied having made such a remark, but even Mr Blair’s closest officials admitted that the story rang true: if she hadn’t said it on that occasion, she had said much worse in the past.

So will her memoirs be unadulterated Gordon-bashing? Of course not. She has an interesting story to tell as well a feud to chronicle. But it is hard to believe that this brilliantly clever woman won’t allow herself one or two very painful digs at the man who – in her eyes – evicted her from what became her home in Number Ten. Hell hath no fury….