The PM’s wife who Britain could not hold down

Her 500 pages of lively and funny stories take the reader from a working-class childhood in Liverpool to the heart of the British legal system and her marriage to the prime minister. It was an astonishing journey for a woman whose unconventional childhood was full of drama, and who grew up with a fierce sense of justice.

In her autobiography she speaks about combining her roles in life as a working mother.

As a barrister, Blair has long advocated women’s rights in the workplace. “I shared my own lessons and understandings that were got out of personal experiences to focus on discussions mainly on the challenges women face breaking into traditionally male-centric fields like law,” she said.

As an example, she mentioned Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of an African nation. “It is women like these that are eliminating stereotypes about what women can or cannot do,” Blair said.

However, as a wife to a prime minister, she also complained about being a behind-the-scenes woman. In her autobiography she referred to herself as “the prisoner” of Downing Street during times of extreme isolation.

In the early days of her husband’s career, the two had a strong partnership. That dynamic changed when he became prime minister, and she was forced to accept that she would never know what was going on, and that Alastair Campbell – a previous political rival – would decide what she could and could not do.

“I had gone through a miscarriage, felt financially insecure and was generally feeling sorry for myself. I was so pre-occupied with my own woes that I did not give much thought to the looming conflict in Iraq,” she said, describing her worst days.

But her narrative shines again as she talks about the places she visited and people she met. Her descriptions of official visits to China, Pakistan and Rwanda are fascinating, as are her observations about world players like the Clintons, George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, the Royal Family and the theatrical Silvio Berlosconi.

“Never praise a woman, because it will only spoil her,” she said, grinning as she quoted something Putin once told her.