CHERIE BLAIR has risked offending Muslims by criticising the way in which Islam is used in many societies to keep women in check.

Mrs Blair told a group of Indian journalists in Delhi that attitudes towards women in some Muslim societies were out of date and needed to change. She urged Muslims to embrace more modern attitudes to sex equality.

Mrs Blair, a human rights lawyer with a long-standing interest in women’s issues, was accompanying her husband on a four-day visit to China and India. She made the remarks at a private lunch for the Indian Women Press Corps, where she also revealed her childhood dreams of marrying an Indian prince. Although she has largely avoided the British media during the visit, and British officials have refused to discuss her programme, reporters present said that she moved from table to table to talk with them in groups.

At one table, Mrs Blair spoke of how as a Christian she was fascinated by Islam and thought there was much good about it. But after she was asked about the London bombings she said: “The religion has a deep philosophical base but there are misinterpretations by some groups in some parts of the world about women that I have a problem with.”

Mrs Blair then suggested that Islamic scholars should review or re-examine Muslim teaching on the place of women. But at that point she appeared consciously to check herself.

Although she is fiercely protective of her family’s privacy with the British media she disclosed at the lunch that her daughter Kathryn had opposed her decision to take up the case of a Muslim schoolgirl banned from wearing a jilbab, or traditional Islamic dress, at school as it breached the uniform code. Kathryn believed that the case was a blow against women’s freedom but Mrs Blair thought deeper religious and human rights were at stake.

The lunch took place under “Chatham House rules”, meaning that those present agreed not to attribute comments to her directly but were able to paraphrase them. But details leaked out yesterday. Mrs Blair also revealed that she disagrees with her husband on a number of the Government’s policies.

She said: “Publicly I have never differed on any of the British Government’s policies. In most cases I support my husband’s policies but if I were to say that everything my husband did was excellent or good then it would mean either he is a saint or I am subservient. I am not subservient.”

In a more light-hearted moment Mrs Blair further revealed that as a child she harboured exotic dreams of falling in love with an Indian maharajah. The Times of India reported: “She also wanted to be Britain’s first woman prime minister as a child but, since Margaret Thatcher beat her to it, it was not to be.”

Delhi’s newspapers were cleary enamoured with Mrs Blair: all called her “Britain’s First Lady” and one referred to her as “Cherie” in subsequent mentions.

While her husband spent most of their first day in a series of meetings with Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs Blair spoke at a lecture on women’s rights organised by the British Council in Delhi. In between she and Mr Blair visited a shelter for street children, generating pictures of them both that were widely used in the Indian press.

Several hours later, however, Mrs Blair again criticised discrimination against women, this time referring specifically to India, which has the world’s second-largest Muslim population. She said that traditional patriarchal structures did not allow equality between men and women to be a priority.

“Discrimination stems from socio-cultural norms and hence [the] struggle for equality becomes a challenge.”

Mr Blair refused to comment on his wife’s views about women and Islam when asked at a press conference with Mr Singh. He spent his final day in India flying to Udaipaur in Rajasthan for two hours of more relaxed discussions with his Indian counterpart.

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