The XX Factor: What women really think.

"Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold"

A few weeks ago, back when we were talking about those political wives who stand in the background at press conferences and speeches, staring fixedly into space while their husbands confess to infidelity, criminality, stupidity, I suggested—to the scorn of many readers—that for many wives, particularly those who have some sort of stake in the marriage, the staring-at-the-husband exercise might be worth it: After all, revenge can always be exacted later. Well, it seems that one of the more famous political wives made precisely that sort of calculation.

Cherie Blair has held her tongue for many, many years now—since her husband first became prime minister in 1997, really—and can thus fully savour this moment. After years of subjecting her personal life to the public relations needs of her spouse, she has found a way to hit back, literally below the belt. The Times of London has published extracts  of her new memoir and yes, they are quite vicious, as well as startlingly explicit. Among other things, Cherie accuses Tony of discussing how to announce her miscarriage to the great British public, even as she lay "in pain and still bleeding," and says he reacted to the news of her pregnancy with the immortal words "We'll have to tell Alastair" (Alastair being Alastair Campbell, Blair's press spokesman). She also announces that her fourth child was conceived at Balmoral Castle—one of the Queen's many homes—because she'd removed what she delicately refers to as her "contraceptive equipment" from her luggage, fearing that the servants would unpack it all, as they had on a previous visit. But then, "as usual up there it had been bitterly cold, and what with one thing and another ..." 

The most obvious point to make about all of this is "I thought she was Roman Catholic," but I'm not going to say that. I'll only say that Cherie must have been really quite angry, all of those many long years, to have published this sort of stuff, given that she must know perfectly well what the British press is going do with it. First reaction of prominent female columnist, for example: "self-serving, smug, opportunistic, vain, shallow-thinking, nasty ..." Anyway, you get the drift. She won't be admired or loved (she isn't anyway) but perhaps she'll enjoy a few precious moments of satisfaction, finally seeing her version of events in print.

*Correction, May 14, 2008: This entry originally referred to the London Times. The newspaper is known only as the Times, though outside Britain it is often described as the Times of London.