Cherie Blair
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Cherie Blair QC (born in Bury, Greater Manchester on September 23, 1954) is the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. She is a successful lawyer, in which capacity she uses her maiden name Cherie Booth.
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Her father, the actor Tony Booth, walked out when she was two. He would later gain fame for his role in the BBC comedy Til Death Us Do Part. When Cherie was an adult her father married actress Pat Phoenix.
She studied at the London School of Economics for a law degree and was the first (and still the only) person to earn an LSE law degree with a first class in all her subjects. She later came at the top of her year in the bar exams, while teaching law at the University of Westminster. In 1976, while she was studying to become a lawyer, she met Tony Blair. She won a pupillage in the chambers of Derry Irvine ahead of him, although he was taken on part-time. Married on March 29, 1980, they have four children: Euan, Nicky, Kathryn and Leo.
Booth unsuccessfully contested the seat of North Thanet in Kent at the 1983 UK general election, while her husband was selected at the last minute for a safe seat in Sedgefield, County Durham in the same election.
Booth became a barrister in 1976 and Queen's Counsel in 1995. In 1999 she was appointed a Recorder (a permanent part-time judge) in the County Court and Crown Court. She is Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, and Governor of the London School of Economics and the Open University. She is a founding member of Matrix Chambers, London, from which she continues to practice as a barrister. Matrix were formed in 2000 specialising in human rights law, though members also practice in a range of areas of UK public and private law, the law of the European Union and European Convention on Human Rights, and public international law ([[1] (http://146.101.169.11/AreasOfPractice.aspx)]).
Booth specialises in employment, discrimination and public law and in this capacity has sometimes represented claimants taking cases against the UK government, for example Purja and Ors v Ministry of Defence (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2003/445.html).
In 2002, Booth hit the newspaper headlines in the scandal referred to as "Cheriegate" because of her involvement with Peter Foster, a convicted Australian conman, who assisted her with the purchase of two flats in Bristol. Booth tried to distance herself from Foster and briefed the press office at Number 10 to go public with a statement claiming that Foster was not involved with the deal. She was caught out when Foster provided evidence that she had lied. She went public herself, tearfully reading a prepared statement blaming her "misfortune" on the pressures of running a family and being a mother.
Her relationship with the so-called "style guru" and former model Carole Caplin has given rise to headlines in some newspapers.
Trivia
- In May 2000, it was revealed that Cherie is related to John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Booth was Cherie's great-great-great grandfather’s brother, or her great-great-great-great uncle.
- She is well known for her "unfortunate" appearances in UK newspapers where the photo-journalists often capture unflattering shots.
- In 2005 she was criticized for accepting a salary for what was dubbed a "charity tour" that took place in Australia and New Zealand. She was also made fun of for mixing up Australians and New Zealanders.
Titles from birth
External link
Matrix Chambers - Cherie Booth, QC*[2] (http://146.101.169.11/WhoWeAre_Members_CherieBoothQC.aspx) (her chambers profile)de:Cherie Blair fr:Cherie Blair