James, Liverpool
Ref: Cherie QC retaining a sense of humour, you are right. Every time I see or hear of her I am left doubled up with laughter. The real kicker is, I, like the rest of the population are laughing at her, not with her. She has helped to put the final nails in Liebour's coffin

John , Durham, UK

Dear Minette ( petite chatte in French), I cannot help wondering whether the cattiness so many women columnists have exhibited about these memoirs do not stem from a kind of class prejudice? CB has dared to say what middle class girls would leave unsaid. The sisterhood? Red in tooth and claw!

Marguerite , London ,

I fully support Mrs Blair's effort to open up Brtish politiccs.
More power to her elbow.

stephen bull, fontes, france

What a load of cobblers. How disgusting of her flogging her memoirs etc...... I'm sure you came out with the same nonsense when Maggie and her gang were flogging books just such as these. No doubt you were at the front of the queue when the jailbirds Aitken and Archer were flogging books recently!

A Thomas, Lanchester,

What an incredibly well written article, Minette... Once in a while an article comes along written with words that emphasize the lost virtues of humans and you have managed to write those words beautifully.Yet, I don't think a journalist's job is to be indiscreet but only to write unbiased truth.

1mean1, London, United Kingdom

Britains answer to Hillary Clinton. With what I have heard, she has even less charm or wit than the original. " The profound bigotry. antiintellectualism, intolerance and illiberalism of liberals ", fits her perfectly.

Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Tx

Cherie Blair has achieved what I thought was impossible - she's made me feel sorry for Tony Blair

Juliet , Cardiff ,

Give her all her subs back, she clearly needs the money, and expel her from the party, but be quick, Gywneths seat is up for grabs on Friday.

Douglas Miller, Fulham,

"She gives other women a bad name" Did Tony Blair "give other men a bad name" when he took us into an unpopular war?

Or is it only women that have to go through life ensuring they are perfect role models for every other person who shares the same gender?

Maz, Yorkshire, England

Ms. Blair/Booth QC is coarse and uncouth, but she is not fit to be a recorder or a judge because above all, she is dishonest. The non-declaration and non-payment of the VAT on her Chinese shopping spree bars her from sitting in judgment over others.

Chie, Tokyo, Japan

She is clearly selective in the Roman Catholic tenets that she observes - modesty clearly being one she ignores. Many people come from poor and dysfunctional backgrounds. Most of us just got on with it. She is typical of the kind of working class hero for whom it is all about the money.

Derek, Edinburgh,

In writing this ghastly, hypocritical mess, Cherie has elbowed aside Heather Mills as the nation's great hate figure. I'm sure she didn't intend to do this, but unlike Heather, she's clearly sane.

As such, I wouldn't let her anywhere near any court in the land.

jonathan anthony, london,

Cherie usually acts for the employer against the employee, naturally as that is where the money is!
It is mentioned that she brought up 4 children well - google
Kathryn Blair 2003. The taxpayer is forking out £400 000 pa for Tony in the Middle East, because Bush wanted him there, so he should pay.

lindiwe, sevenoaks,

Interesting memoirs should have salt and pepper. Her memoirs pepper the Prime Minister with shrapnel (already walking wounded), and have no salt, which leads to a lack of good taste.

Chris Gillibrand, Brussels, Belgium

There seems to be a assumption that to be a Barrister is to be exceptionally clever. The overwhelming need for a lawyer is to possess a good memory and work hard..
In addition to be a Judge it needs wisdom, experience , tact and maturity. That is why Mrs Blair seems unsuitable..

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

Cherie is a well educated lawyer, a mother and a wife. Her career now may be made out of questionable methods but her base career is made out of things most women cannot even dream or dare to achieve. Her current writing shows she is acting quite normal and female- which we should welcome!

Melanie, london, UK

I disagree with you. It seems to me that Cherie Blair has been villified by the press for years. It seems somehow that because of her background she is being told by journalists that she should "somehow know her place". Male lawyers (judges)resent able women too. Envy and snobbery still reign.

Jane Ashby, Lincoln, England

Cherie Booth is actually a role model for modern women. She has had a highly successful career in a difficult, male dominated profession, she has had and clearly raised well four children, as Prime Minister's wife she performed all sorts of duties completely free. And she has kept a sense of humour

James, Liverpool, UK

I actually looked into the process of making a formal complaint about her conduct to the Office of Judicial Complaints.

David Townsend, Kabul, Afghanistan

I don't suppose any of the entirely appropriate views on her suitability for promotion will count for anything.

New Labour has 'modernised' the justice system to make sure that their people get appointed irrespective of ability or integrity.

MarkS, York,

How Cherie Booth can be taken seriously as acting as "The Court" in any matter with the amount of baggage surrounding her is unbelievable. Just the words abuse of power & office, are sufficient for anyone to demand Booth QC stands herself down in any trial. Isn't Booth QC a Privy Councillor also?

Steve, Bournemouth, England

I don't want to spoil the fun by sticking to the facts and treating Cherie Blair as a human being rather than a favourite whipping boy, but I do fail to see how loving her husband and talking about contraception make her indiscreet, vulgar, and a disgrace to her sex and the law.

Fiona Rintoul, Glasgow, Scotland

Cherie is ghastly. When her husband was PM she exploited his name and status for money. She is greedy ('free clothes' episode in Australia) and has a poor relationship with telling the truth (Bristol flats). Who on earth would want to accept her 'judgement' on anything. She is not fit to judge.

Donna Walker, Effingham, England

Having fleeced the British peoples coffers in the name of human rights, I think the only place this woman should stand in court is the dock!

stuart, london, uk

As they say, you can take the person out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the person.
Watch your hubcaps.

Tab-A Sadam, Todmorden, UK

Cherie Blair abused the office that her husband held for her own marterial gain. She is totally unfit to practice in law.

Mark, London, UK

"Positive discrimination in women’s favour in the law" -- illegal behaviour within the field of law? Unlikely. Positive action to try to offer women and minorities equal opportunities by encouraging them to apply for posts and promotion for which they are equally qualified? I should hope so.

Fanny Herring, Norwich,

Me thinks Minette Marrin is jealous!

Byron, Cheltenham, Glos.

The theme of this article is wrongl for the public complain about cover-ups in public life. If Mrs Blair is telling the truth and, for my part, I have no doubt she is, then she ought to be congratulated for rasing the issues she has. She can also act as a judge for she is idependently-minded.

David Wilkinson, Cramlington, Northumberland

I'm not sure about the virtues of this analysis. True, she has acted in ways one could query as compatible with high judicial office. But there is much to be said for knowing more about how top judges believe in than we now do. All important decisions are influenced by how one thinks.

Chris, London,

Two talented, self-made people who got to the top. What's the problem? Is it just that they weren't born Tory millionaires?

Janet, London,

As a male observer of Cherie's antics I can only conclude that she is not fit for purpose - if the purpose is to be a judge in our (largely) fair society. If I was unfortunate enough to be in front of a judge for some misdemeanor (indiscretion, tricksy deals) it could not be Cherie.

Gordon, Weybridge, Surrey

Dashdot, I would usually agree. But Mrs Blair must have had great influence on Mr Blair, and then, there is her ambition to become a judge. We have to expect more of people in high office.

But a disgrace to women? I think Mrs Blair is a normal woman myself....or even a normal person!

Alan Robinson, Bjerreby, Denmark

'Snobbery' -dashdot, London. What are you on about ? - I hope you don't have to 'appear' in front of her - you might get the message......

Victor M., Chelmsford, Essex.,

Nothing to with 'snobbery', more to do with what is right. This ghastly woman should never be in the position of sitting on a judicial bench. The very qualities required preclude her has she has none of them: impartiality, a sense of duty and the ability to keep information confidential.

Tom, Isle of Skye,

Are you saying that anyone from liverpool is just inherently an awful person

j. smith, UK,

She is ghastly & awful and comes across as a true 'WAG' but in the City she is very very highly regarded as a lawyer who takes on difficult HR cases and quite often wins them

John, Guildford, UK

unfortunately dashdot reveals his /her own prejudice in confusing Minette Marrinns article with snobbery

alan burden, mijas pueblo, España

How true a simple ghastly example to all women,greedy irrational and definitely unfit to be a member of the legal profession or judge,a very unprofessional woman and disgrace to the Catholic church.

Ann Crak , Mugla , Turkey

What on earth does 'you can take the girl out of Liverpool but, alas, you can't take Liverpool out of the girl' mean? What a ridiculous statement. From what I can see Cherie’s biggest ‘crimes’ are that she continued to hold down a successful career and is from Liverpool.

Mel, Manchester,

The real surprise is that anybody is surprised. The Blairs were always vulgar, nasty and brash, cosying up to celebrity, on the make for table scrapings from the rich and famous, with a moral compass that consistently pointed to the gutter.

Eric, London,

Minette Marrin, as ever, hits the nail bang on the head. Cherie is simply ghastly.

You can take the girl out of Liverpool but, alas, you can't take the Liverpool out of the girl.

Alexander King, Cork, Ireland

What a perfect piece for demonstrating that snobbery is far from dead in our land.

dashdot, London, UK