Cherie defied over portrait demand as Iraq war neared

CHERIE BLAIR demanded that her husband sit for an official portrait as the war in Iraq was approaching, but Tony Blair resisted his wife’s importunity for another five years.

Rather than discussing the matter with her husband face to face, Mrs Blair got her aide Fiona Millar to fire off a memo to the then prime minister on Nov 12 2002 saying: “Cherie is adamant that you must now sit for the Lincoln’s Inn portrait by Jonathan Yeo, as you have agreed this in person with them.

“This presents us with a dilemma as we have turned down the National Portrait Gallery on the grounds that you haven’t got time for the necessary sittings. None of us feel that the image of you posing for your portrait is a particularly helpful one at the moment, especially if the conflict in Iraq escalates.”

On the day the memo was sent, Brit- ain and other countries were putting pressure on Saddam Hussein to comply with UN Security Council resolution 1441, which called on Iraq to disarm or face “serious consequences”. Allied forces invaded four months later.

At the time, the then prime minister was known to be reluctant to sit for a portrait because the public expected him to be spending every waking hour concentrating on his job running the country and deciding on policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Blair wrote in red pen on the bottom of the note: “I’ve never thought this is so presentationally disastrous but I agree with what you suggest.”

Mr Blair finally sat for Mr Yeo for his first official portrait in 2007, after leaving No 10, when he was depicted with a poppy in his lapel for a painting that hung in the Great Hall of Lincoln’s Inn.