Cherie Blair is writing a “full account” of her journey from a working-class
childhood to life in Downing Street – and the more explosive it is, the
more money she will get.
If Mrs Blair has promised a warts-and-all account of her dealings with Gordon
Brown, Carole Caplin and Alastair Campbell, her advance could exceed the £1
million reportedly paid to Mr Campbell for his diaries The Blair Years.
However, publishing insiders said that the advance could be as little as
£250,000 – less than that offered to David Blunkett and John
Prescott – if she intends to skim over the conflicts at the heart of
new Labour in order to protect her husband’s reputation. The book will be
published in October next year, with Mrs Blair expected to deliver a first
draft in the spring.
There was no bidding war for Mrs Blair’s autobiography; instead, her literary
agent, Kate Jones at ICM Books, took an outline straight to Ursula
Mackenzie, the chief executive and publisher of Little, Brown. It was Ms
Mackenzie who handled the most revelatory political memoir of modern times –
Edwina Currie’s stunning confession of her affair with John Major, which was
exclusively serialised in The Times in 2002.
Westminster gossips immediately homed in on whether Mrs Blair, who is not
known for being taciturn, might dent the fragile revival of the friendship
between her husband and Mr Brown. The pair talk frequently and the Prime
Minister now refers to his predecessor as “Tony” in private conversation.
Mrs Blair was widely held to harbour deep resentment at the way the former
Chancellor manoeuvred against her husband. When, in his speech to the Labour
conference last year, Mr Brown declared that it had been a privilege to have
worked with her husband, she was overheard saying: “Well, that’s a lie.”
Interest also centred on what Mrs Blair might have to say about her infamous
reliance on Carole Caplin and how she came to be embroiled with the conman
Peter Foster in the purchase of two flats in Bristol, leading to her tearful
public apology in which she admitted: “I’m not Superwoman.”
Mrs Blair is said to have been on frosty terms with members of the Royal
Family, including the Princess Royal. But of greatest interest to many could
be the light her account may shed on her husband’s decision to go to war in
Iraq, the personal circumstances that led him to contemplate quitting in
2004, and the tortuous handover to Mr Brown.
Mrs Mackenzie said that she was not expecting Mrs Blair to pull any punches
“It will be her putting the record straight from her point of view. She is
characteristically frank and I know that she’s keen to put everything she
can into the book.
“I’m not in a position to say what she’s going to put in because she’s in the
middle of writing it, but it will be a straightforward, funny account of a
rather extraordinary life.”
Mrs Blair said: “I feel so privileged to have travelled so far. So much has
happened – things that my grandma could never have dreamt of –
that it feels wrong somehow just to let it pass as if the journey had no
meaning.”
Labour officials, busy planning for Mr Brown’s first party conference as Prime
Minister next week, were caught off guard and feared the damage her book
might do to the party. A source said: “Many people in Labour lost patience
with Cherie a long time ago, and whereas Alastair Campbell had credit in the
bank which allowed him to spill the beans, Cherie has none. If she makes
life difficult that will be the end of her reputation for many in the party.”
Little, Brown refused to release details of Mrs Blair’s advance beyond
confirming that no newspaper serial-isation deal had been struck.
Katherine Rushton, of The Bookseller magazine, said: “Cherie Blair
could have earned an advance of up to £1 million, depending on how frank she
is prepared to be about the Downing Street decade, the Brown-Blair
relationship, and the scandals around Carole Caplin and Peter Foster. The
advance will have been inflated because she is publishing relatively quickly
and the possibility that Mr Brown will call an election in the publication
year.
“It’s very hard to put an estimate on the number of copies the book could be
expected to sell – 50,000 in hardback would be a good result and one I
think she could achieve. If Cherie gets the book right and it does very
well, she could be looking at 100,000 in hardback.
“She is like Marmite in that she totally divides opinion, but with the amount
of controversy that surrounds her I think she could scoop up as many sales
from her detractors as from her fans.”
Several political autobiographies have sold disappointingly, but John Major’s
is believed to have sold 200,000 copies. The first volume of Baroness
Thatcher's autobiography, The Downing Street Years, is thought to
have sold more than half a million copies.
Iain Dale, the founder of Politico’s bookshop, said: “The advantage she has is
that because she is not well thought of by many people she’s got nothing to
lose.”
Insiders
The Blair Years Alastair Campbell (71,850 copies sold to date)
Under pressure after the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly,
Campbell contemplated suicide himself
The Spin Doctor’s Diary Lance Price (6,530)
Reveals that Blair shouted “f***ing Welsh” when it looked as if Labour might
lose the first Welsh assembly elections
The Blunkett Tapes David Blunkett (4,142)
Writes that he once mistook Prince of Wales’s aftershave for the smell of his
lavender bushes at Highgrove
Source for book sales: Neilsen BookScan
I really don't know how other correspondents can be so cynical.
I have every faith that Cherie will donate all of the fees to charity.
Rob, Norwich
Rob Williamson, Norwich, UK
"Britain,Rule of Lawyers". A lawyer ex Prime minister and his Human-Rights Lawyer Wife can buy a 3 million pound home all presumably on the proceeds of income from the Tax-Payers of Great-britain, reveals the true state of this Country today.
How much longer are the Elderly, the Hospitals, Schools, and all the other essential services of this country to come way behind the Greed of Lawyers, feeding off a Legal system that they have systematically "tweaked" and "worked" so that their Income comes First.
Police are tied up with red-tape, Prison Building is way behind requirement, and the criminal class and illegal immigrants are merely the CASH-COWS of the "so called" Legal profession .
Most of the Law-Abiding Tax-Paying citizens of this country are thoroughly sick of the situation which exists.
God help us if Gordon Brown or David Cameron are Lawyers and worse, have Lawyer wives.
barrie, Bristol,
Yesterdays stories from the wife of yesterdays man. The sad thing is that they will be snapped up by millions engaging in an intellectual version of celebrity adulation.
Books by the 'I was there' brigade need to be approached with caution, they are not history books.
Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire
wow thank goodnes she is putting an autobiography out, haven't heard much from or her for a while, and being such a really really important person, who has contributed so much to the world, it would be a shame if she faded too far from the limelight. I imagine after such a riveting read you could actually make use of the book by using it to light fires or wrap fish.
Rob, Hamilton, New Zealand
Politicians and thier famillies should not be able to profit from writing about public office. if they do, they donate all profits to charity.
civil servants would not be allowed to write about thier work even when they have left.
Maybe none of us should buy this book at all. I certainly would not.
Sam. J , London, Uk
it's about as classy as a footballer writing their "autobiographies"
c, croatia,
Why are politicians, and in this case their wives, permitted to write books about their time in goverment? This surely should not be allowed as it does nothing for the political stabiliity of our country and can only do harm to the UK.
They write these books because almost all politians enter government for personal gain.
Lets be honest she is just doing this for the cash, although one would think she managed to get enough from her money grabbing exploits whilst she was the Prime Ministers wife.
And is Cherie still trying to say she isn't a money grabber who used her position as PM's wife to grow her bank balance?
Maybe in her book, which I have absolutely no interest in reading, she will finally admit it.
Come on Cherie....you know it, we know it and you know we know it!
Francis, Birmingham, UK
Whatever happened to the Official Secrets Act. Hanging out the dirty laundry outside of ones own backyard is hardly fitting for the wife of a former world leader who has just left office. I thought that politicians and the spouses / partners of prominent leaders are supposed to work for the good of the country, not the good of their bank balance.
Mark Harris, Swansea, Wales