When it was announced in 1999 that Cherie Blair was pregnant, the controversy about the proposed hunting ban was at its height. I discussed the pregnancy at a hunt tea with the terrier-man. ‘It won’t be a baby,’ he predicted sullenly, ‘It’ll be a two-headed calf.’ Actually, it was dear little Leo. Now, in the extracts from her forthcoming memoirs, Mrs Blair explains the circumstances of his conception. In the previous year, when she and Tony had stayed at Balmoral, ‘I had been extremely disconcerted to discover that everything of mine had been unpacked. Not only my clothes, but the entire contents of my distinctly ancient toilet bag with its range of unmentionables. This year I had been more circumspect and had not packed my contraceptive equipment, out of sheer embarrassment. As usual up there, it had been bitterly cold and what with one thing and another…’. Several things strike me about this passage. The first is that I am not sure I believe its details. Was it really a complete surprise that her bags were unpacked? Was it really impossible for her to carry her ‘contraceptive equipment’ (she makes it sound as big as a toolbox) in a handbag which the Balmoral staff would not molest? Second, the passage is rude to the Queen, who allegedly keeps her house so cold that she drives the Prime Minister and his wife beneath the sheets. Third, it reveals that Mrs Blair, the good Catholic, defies her Church in using contraception. This is not at all unusual, but what point is Mrs Blair making by telling us? Fourth, the passage is coy and knowing — the dreadful ‘what with one thing and another…’. Finally, the essential story is not, in fact, new. The news that Leo was conceived at Balmoral was released at the time.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in