Caption this: Tony Blair's wife faces the media

Cherie Blair faces the media as the Downing Street Christmas tree lights are switched on. The prime minister's wife remains firmly in the media spot light after solicitors for convicted Australian fraudster Peter Foster said she called them to discuss deportation proceedings against their client. REUTERS/Dan Chung

It's very simple really. She wanted to buy a couple of apartments in Bristol; Euan Blair, the son of Cherie and Tony, is going to university there.

So in order to do this, she had an intermediary, the boyfriend of one of her best friends, do this. As it turns out, this boyfriend is a convicted conman, several times over. His particular scheme was to sell phony diet pills.

As it turned out the boyfriend didn't get a very good deal - only 3 other people paid more for the flats than Cherie Blair did in the building she bought the flats in. What is more is that she didn't fully disclose the role that this conman had played in the deal. The Press Office at the Prime Minister's office had said when asked about this that there was no connection, primarily because Cherie hadn't told them. Cherie hadn't fully fessed up in the beginning. Blair now looks weak and like he can't manage his own family.

But the BBC has just revealed this:

Cherie 'phoned fraudster's solicitor'
Cherie Blair is facing new questions after it emerged she phoned Peter Foster's solicitors about the convicted fraudster's deportation proceedings.
Downing Street has previously said Mrs Blair did not "assist" Mr Foster, who helped her buy two flats, in his legal battle against deportation from the UK.
Now his solicitor has said Mrs Blair did take part in a conference call on 22 November, but this was only "to reassure" Mr Foster's girlfriend there was nothing untoward about the immigration proceedings.
The solicitor's statement stresses Mrs Blair "did not intrude into our conduct of the proceedings and for the avoidance of doubt, had no say whatsoever in our choice of representation".
'No interference'
Mr Foster is boyfriend to Carole Caplin, Mrs Blair's friend and fitness adviser.
Last week, Mrs Blair said she had not known of Mr Foster's criminal past when she first accepted his offers of help for the flat sale.
Her email correspondence over the flats began in October.
But Downing Street said she stood by her statement that she would have been more "circumspect" had she known of Mr Foster's past.
"At no point did she interfere in the immigration case proceedings. Nor would she," said Number 10.
The call to the solicitors had been "short" and aimed at helping Ms Caplin.
Rules broken?
Mrs Blair on Monday performed her first official engagement since the row broke last week as she turned on Downing Street's Christmas lights.
Joking with children from the charity Barnardo's Northern Ireland project, Mrs Blair ignored reporters' questions.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has written to Tony Blair suggesting the Ministerial Code of Conduct has been broken.
That is because the Blairs' blind trust was used to buy the two flats.
Blind trusts were set up so ministers did not know how their money was being invested and could not be accused of impropriety.
Earlier, Downing Street had insisted no rules were broken in the deal, insisting the code covered share dealings and other areas where the government could be thought to influence the situation, not flats.
The prime minister's official spokesman said: "It would be an Alice in Wonderland situation if a family is not able to release its investments and use the money to purchase a flat."
The ministerial code is administered by Tony Blair himself.
Checking the rules
The spokesman said Mr Blair had decided his wife did not breach the code by using the trust to buy the flats.
But he had checked his interpretation of the rules with Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull, the country's most senior civil servant.
Mr Blair believes the media should "keep a sense of perspective", especially with looming problems like the disarming of Iraq.
Earlier, Maurice Fitzpatrick, an expert on trusts with accountants Tenon, suggested to BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Blair's involvement should be clarified.
"If ... the prime minister was neither involved in the decision to make the purchase on the one hand nor indeed was he aware of the purchase on the other, then he would probably still be in the clear," he said.
"The problem is that his own son was going to live in one of the flats and it seems unlikely on that basis he was never aware of the purchase."
'Integrity'
There have been reports that Alastair Campbell, Downing Street's communications chief, warned some time ago that Mrs Blair's associates could damage Number 10's reputation.
In his letter to the prime minister, Mr Duncan Smith asked if this was true, and if so, what did Number 10 press officers know when they denied there was any cause for concern.
Downing Street's initial denials that Mr Foster had been involved in the flats deal had to be hastily corrected when on Thursday the Daily Mail published e-mail proof of his help.
Mr Blair's spokesman has denied reports that the affair had produced a rift between the prime minister and his communications director, Alastair Campbell.
Earlier, Sean Cousins, an Australian barrister who knows Mr Foster well, said he found it difficult to believe Mrs Blair had not known about his past.
Mr Cousins told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm reliably informed that both Miss Caplin and Mrs Blair were well informed of who he was and his past."

Ouch. Bad times for the Tonester. As I'm a Tory, I'm snickering about it. ;)

Regards, Ivan

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