Bill Clinton wanted to divorce his wife in 1989 for another woman with whom he had fallen in love but Hillary Clinton forbade it, according to one of two new highly unflattering books about the former First Lady. The volumes confronted her 2008 presidential campaign yesterday with its primal fear: fresh allegations about her deeply complicated marriage.

A book by Carl Bernstein, the investigative reporter of Watergate fame, also claims that Mrs Clinton considered leaving her husband over his many infidelities when he was Governor of Arkansas. But as his presidential ambitions grew, she went to great lengths to hide his adultery, personally interviewing one woman to get a signed statement that she never had sex with him.

In a second book, Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, by two New York Times reporters, the authors make a potentially highly damaging allegation with far more contemporary repercussions for Mrs Clinton: that she never read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in 2002 before she voted to authorise the war. The heart of her defence today over that vote was that she was convinced by the intelligence.

The book also claims that during Mr Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, Mrs Clinton oversaw a team to undermine Gennifer Flowers – who had gone public about her affair with the candidate – “until she is destroyed”.

Both biographies, obtained by The Washington Post and to be published next month, come as Mrs Clinton’s presidential campaign strives to focus voters on her achievements as First Lady and New York senator – and not on the vaudevillian aspects of her husband’s White House years. Her greatest vulnerability lies in voters rejecting a Clinton restoration because of past scandals.

Before he became president, and then during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Mr Clinton faced questions over a string of alleged relationships during his time as Arkansas Governor. One was with Marilyn Jo Jenkins, a beautiful employee of the Arkansas Power and Light Company.

Bernstein claims Mr Clinton was deeply in love with her and less than two years before had wanted to leave his wife to be with her. But Mrs Clinton refused, says Bernstein, telling Betsy Wright, the Governor’s chief of staff: “There are worse things than infidelity.”

Bernstein, who spent eight years researching the 640-page A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, said Mrs Clinton turned to her best friend, Diane Blair, for advice. when she herself contemplated divorce. Blair, in an interview with Bernstein before her death in 2000, said: “She was concerned that if she were to become a single parent, how would she make it work in a way that would be good for Chelsea.”

When he ran for president, Mrs Clinton told Blair that it would be good for their marriage because her husband’s sexual appetite would be tempered by the White House and the press scrutiny – an erroneous assumption, as the Lewinsky scandal proved.

The Clinton camp claimed the books were rehashing old news. “Is it possible to be quoted yawning?” asked Philippe Reines, her Senate spokesman.

DYNAMIC DUO

Both Hillary and Bill have written autobiographies – Bill’s is entitled My Life. Hillary’s is called Living History. Hillary's literary oeuvre also includes It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us, the New York Times bestseller about her vision for America’s youth. Bill appeared in The Simpsons saying “I’m a pretty lousy President” and Hillary visited South Park with a nuclear weapon hidden in her body Bill and Hillary Clinton poster art is available.

Sources: TV.com, Amazon

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