CHERIE Blair revealed today that Tony Blair was "distraught" when he discovered that the government expert at the centre of the row with the BBC over the Iraq war dossier was dead.
In the latest extract of her autobiography being serialised in two national newspapers, she spoke of the then-Prime Minister's shock on hearing the news of Dr David Kelly's death.
She also revealed that Dr Kelly's widow had visited the Blairs at
Chequers so they could say "how personally sorry they were about what happened".
Mrs Blair writes: "As I watched Tony hand back the phone, I saw him slump into his seat. From sitting upright he just crashed. David Kelly was dead, he said. His body had been found in woodland close to his home. I have never seen Tony so distraught."
The extract goes on to discuss other tensions in the Blair household, with Mrs Blair coming into conflict with her husband's press chief Alastair Campbell over her "lifestyle guru" Carole Caplin. When Mr Campbell learnt the Sun was about to publish topless photographs of Ms Caplin on the day of Mr Blair's first Labour conference speech as leader in 1994 he was "literally spitting" with anger.
He confronted Mrs Blair and demanded she sack Ms Caplin, but she reminded him that he had once written for a pornographic magazine and that did not disqualify him from his job.
Writing on the purchase of two flats in Bristol, where their son Euan was at university, Mrs Blair said she was told the Downing Street press office hated her because they had told lies on her behalf over the involvement of Australian conman and Ms Caplin's boyfriend, Peter Foster.
Mrs Blair admits that she bought the flats without her husband's knowledge. Downing Street denied there had been any contact between Mr Foster and Mrs Blair, before a newspaper published an exchange of e-mails between the pair.
The full article contains 329 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
