The Lipster

It's always got my goat that Cherie Blair's had a bad rap. After all, here's a woman raised by a single mother who came top of her year at the bar, got a better pupillage than her husband (you know, some chancer called Tony), remains one of the world's most well-regarded human rights lawyers, and STILL mainly gets written about for her gob and her outfits. I ask you. (Saying that, she gets big Lipster points for raving "I don't think we'll miss you!" like a banshee at the press when her and 'im indoors left no. 10.)

Anyway: Cherie's controversial memoirs are being serialised this week in The Times, and today's extract takes us back 10 years (10 years already!) to Bill Clinton's "indiscretions" with Monica Lewinsky. Here, Cherie flags up how the Clinton women coped with the revelations. She reveals how mad Hillary was ("Not just for humiliating her, but for jeopardising their joint project") but also how impressive she was ("If I had been impressed by Hillary before, I was doubly impressed by her now. Dignity is not the word"). And she also underlines Chelsea Clinton's many strengths ("the fact that she was supportive of her mum and understood how her mum was feeling, yet at the same time was able to forgive her dad, was a very important part of why they stayed together").

Our girl leaves the best bit 'til the end, though. "The idea, however, that men just can't help behaving like that is nonsense. It's a myth which actually leads to a lot of mischief in the world; it's why women are stuck behind burkas. As for the idea that men are inflamed by the slightest glimpse of an available body, I don't believe it for a second. Uncontrollable sexual urges are nothing of the sort. Of course men can control them, just as women can." Top marks to you, Ma'am.