Blair’s Wife Admits Missteps in Scandal

Declaring Tuesday that she is no “superwoman,” Cherie Blair, the savvy lawyer spouse of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, acknowledged a lapse in judgment in accepting real estate advice from a man who turned out to be a convicted criminal.

The first lady choked back tears in her first public remarks on a controversy that has dominated the British tabloids for a week and led to charges of impropriety and cover-up.

Cherie Blair conceded that she had mishandled questions about the matter, causing the prime minister’s office to give out misleading information that Peter Foster, a convicted fraud, wasn’t involved at all. She blamed her initial reaction on her wish to protect her family’s privacy.

Blair, a charity activist in addition to being a leading civil rights lawyer, part-time judge and mother of the Blairs’ four children, pleaded for public understanding during a 10-minute appearance before the cameras.

“The reality of my daily life is that I’m juggling a lot of balls in the air -- trying to be a good wife and mother, trying to be the prime ministerial consort at home and abroad,” she said.

“Some of the balls get dropped -- there just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

In all, it was an emotional performance from a woman who has always been a little awkward in public, and the crowd witnessing her statement -- made just before she attended an awards banquet for an organization called Partners in Excellence -- responded with warm applause.

There was never any accusation of illegal behavior on the part of the first lady, only that there was impropriety in any association with a convicted con man.

At issue was Blair’s connection to Foster, an Australian who offered to help her negotiate the purchase of two apartments in the city of Bristol, where the Blairs’ eldest son, Euan, has just started his university studies. Foster is the boyfriend of a close friend of the first lady and volunteered to help negotiate the $790,000 deal. According to media reports, he succeeded in persuading the owner to reduce the selling price by about $109,000.

In her statement, Blair said she was unaware until a few weeks ago that Foster had a criminal history. As the wife of the prime minister, she said, she chooses her friends with care, but “I did not think it was my business to choose my friends’ friends.”

The controversy, and the insinuation of a Downing Street cover-up, was seen by some observers here as a way for the tabloid press to do political harm to the usually unassailable prime minister. Earlier Tuesday, Tony Blair’s office asked newspapers to maintain “a sense of perspective,” and a spokesman accused some tabloid reporters of a “campaign of character assassination.”

Conservatives have called for an inquiry into whether Cherie Blair or the prime minister’s representatives tried to accelerate deportation proceedings against Foster once his involvement with the real estate deal became widely known. In her statement, Blair said that the suggestion was untrue.

Blair said she never suspected that her dealings with Foster would lead to “this mess.” Nevertheless, she said, the real estate was bought “in an entirely lawful and proper way.”

“I am sorry if I have embarrassed anyone,” she said, “but the people who know me well know that I would never want to harm anyone, least of all Tony or the children or the Labor government, or to misuse my position in any way at all.”