CHERIE BLAIR inflicted massive embarrassment on her husband and raised questions about their judgment yesterday when she confessed that a convicted conman had helped her to buy two flats.

She was forced to come clean about Peter Foster’s involvement in the deal after allowing the Downing Street press office to spend much of the week denying that he had helped with the negotiations for the properties in Bristol.

Mrs Blair’s admission, prompted by the disclosure by the Daily Mail yesterday of e-mails between herself and Mr Foster, left MPs on all sides questioning how she could have allowed a person with convictions on three continents to have become involved in the cut-price purchase of flats worth about £500,000.

Since last Saturday, No 10 had been denying allegations in the Mail on Sunday of impropriety and illegality, a position they maintained yesterday. But Mr Blair’s two chief press officers had also insisted earlier this week that Mr Foster was not a financial adviser to the Blairs and that he had not negotiated on their behalf.

The Times has learnt that Mrs Blair told neither Alastair Campbell, the communications director, nor Godric Smith, Mr Blair’s official spokesman, about Mr Foster’s involvement in the negotiations when they discussed the matter by telephone on Saturday. Nor did she tell them about the existence of the e-mails. It was clear that Mrs Blair was most concerned with rebutting the newspaper’s allegations of impropriety. She was also angered by what she saw as an unjustified invasion of privacy — one of the flats was for the Blairs’ son Euan, who is at Bristol University.

After the Mail’s disclosures yesterday, Mrs Blair had no choice but to admit that the press had not been told the truth. Her statement was also needed to protect the integrity of the No 10 press office.

Yesterday Mrs Blair apologised for letting Downing Street mislead the media and said that Mr Foster had been involved in the flats deal negotiations “for a couple of weeks”.

She said, however, that she had secured the cut in the price of the flats from £295,000 to £269,000 before Mr Foster became directly involved and insisted that the purchase had been carried out properly and said “any reasonable person” would accept “I have done nothing improper”.

Mr Foster, who was sentenced to 33 months in jail in September 2000 for using fraudulent documents to help him to obtain credit to launch a slimming pill, became involved in the property transaction because his girlfriend, Carole Caplin, is a friend of Mrs Blair.

Mrs Blair said that she was unaware of Mr Foster’s background and would have been more “circumspect” had she known of it.

The episode dealt a damaging blow to Downing Street’s relations with the media and in a second statement last night, Mrs Blair took the blame for any misunderstanding between Downing Street and reporters.

Her initial statement said that she had decided to buy the flat in Bristol because her son was going to university there. “Through a family friend, I was told of a particular complex of flats. In early October I entered into detailed correspondence on this with the friend and through her with the flats’ agents.

“It was during these initial discussions that the asking price for the property was reduced from £295,000 to £269,000. For reasons of avoiding publicity and because of work commitments I asked a friend, Carole Caplin, to look at the property for me.

“She visited the property in late October with her boyfriend Peter Foster. I had, at that point, never met Mr Foster or spoken to him and was unaware of the details of his past.

“Clearly had I been aware, I would have been far more circumspect in my response to what appeared to be straightforward, friendly offers of assistance . . . for a couple of weeks of the negotiations in late October/early November he helped me by talking to the property agents, making suggestions to me about the best price to secure and corresponding with me by e-mail.”

Mr Foster had neither asked for nor received remuneration and was not her financial adviser; Martin Kaye was.

“If in not wanting to put into the public domain any and every detail of what I believe to be private issues I have caused any misunderstanding between the No 10 press office and the media that is unfortunate and I regret that.

“But this transaction was properly carried out. The allegations we were asked to respond to were false and I believe that in our private dealings, particularly over issues to do with our children’s living arrangements, we should not be expected to put every detail into the public domain.

“As has been stated before, Mr Foster has never met or spoken to my husband. Nor is it true, as has been claimed, that he met my son when visiting the property.”

The later statement from Downing Street said: “Mrs Blair wants to make it clear that she, and she alone, is responsible for any misunderstanding between the No 10 press office and the media . . . her main preoccupation was to rebut the unfounded allegations about impropriety and illegality made about her.”

Mr Foster said yesterday that he had never hidden his past from anybody. “It is a past I naturally regret but as everybody who knows me is fully aware, I have paid my dues and I have moved on, having learnt from those past mistakes. I would like to point out, however, that no matter what those sins were, I have never been charged with stealing money.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor