Was it to protect Euan that the Blairs went to the Press Commission, or to protect themselves?
STEPHEN GLOVER
0 n 7 December an alluring lead item appeared in Peterborough, the Daily Telegraph's diary column. It told us that Euan Blair, the 17-year-old son of Tony and Cherie, had just been interviewed for a place to read history and politics at Trinity College, Oxford. It added the interesting point that Michael Beloff. QC, the president of Trinity, is a former law partner of Cherie Booth, and once hired her in his chambers.
The next day the Daily Mail ran the story on page 41, which it developed a little. (I should mention once again, by way of declaring an interest, that I write a column for the Mail.) According to the paper, Euan was trying for a place to read archaeology and ancient history at Trinity College, Oxford. Like the Telegraph, it mentioned the link to Michael Beloff, whom it described as 'a ilmillion-a-year barrister . . . friend and former law partner of Euan's mother, Cherie Booth, QC'.
The Mail's reporter had telephoned Downing Street and been told that the Prime Minister did not wish to comment on the matter. So the paper was unprepared for what happened after its story appeared. Cherie, or her husband, or both of them, appear to have gone bananas. On the morning of Saturday 8 December, a warning was sent out to Sunday newspaper editors informing them that the Prime Minister was referring the Mail's article to the Press Complaints Commission in the belief that its code of practice regarding children had been breached. The complaint was made under section 6.1 of the code, which says: 'Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.' Other newspapers were warned not to go down the same path. Since then there has been no further mention of Euan Blair and Trinity College, apart from a short story in the Guardian on 11 December which set out the facts of the case.
Some people may sympathise with the Blairs' belief that this is entirely a private matter. Euan cannot help being the son of the Prime Minister. It may not seem fair that purely as a result of an accident of birth he should find himself being written about in the public prints. He or his parents might argue that it is difficult enough to get into Oxford at the best of times without the added pressure of publicity.
But against this point of view there are very powerful arguments in favour of publi cation. Euan's application to Oxford was already public knowledge in so far as fellow pupils at London Oratory School in Fulham will have been aware of it, as will various teachers and Oxford University tutors and administrators. It is difficult to argue that Euan's privacy has been invaded when his Oxford application was already in the public domain. Long before Prince William was accepted by St Andrews University, it was known that this was where he wanted to go, and I do not recall any royal spin doctors playing up rough. (Admittedly, his family is rather less grand than the Blairs.) Equally, some newspapers mentioned that Jack Straw's son was heading for Oxford University, and no one complained.
In Euan's case there is another crucial factor: Cherie Blair's close friendship with Michael Beloff, the president of Trinity. Knowing Oxford a little, I do not for a moment imagine that any skulduggery took place. Even if Mr Beloff were minded to give Euan a helping hand, which I am sure he was not, it is almost inconceivable that the dons who interview candidates wishing to read archaeology and ancient history could have been manipulated. Dons are usually a pretty independent breed who don't generally appreciate being leant on by their head of college.
The trouble is that in forbidding the press to report this matter Cherie and Tony Blair stir up questions which might not otherwise arise. As a result they do Trinity and their own son a disservice. For however compelling the arguments against there having been any kind of stitch-up — at the time of writing I do not know whether Euan was offered a conditional place — there will inevitably be some who will rub their chins in a knowing way. It would have been wise of the Blairs not to have encouraged their son to go to a college whose president is a close friend; and it was unwise of Mr Beloff not to suggest that Euan try Wadham or Worcester or wherever. But mistakes having been made by both parties, things have been made very much worse by the Blairs' act of censorship. Suspicions are bound to be raised where there are almost certainly no grounds for them. This is unfair on Euan, who is probably a brilliant student that could sail into any Oxford college. In shutting down the press, presumably in the belief that they were protecting him, the Blairs have introduced doubts where none should have existed.
Trinity is perhaps aware of the damage that might be done to it. A few days before Christmas the Times revealed that Philip Keevil had resigned his post as co-chairman of Trinity's appeal committee, and withdrawn a pledge of a substantial benefaction, after the college had failed to offer his apparently well-qualified son a place. Michael Beloff wrote an article in the same paper, arguing the rather obvious point that it is right that money should not buy a place at Oxford. The effect, if not the intention, of the piece was to depict Trinity in a virtuous light. There was no mention of Euan Blair.
My main worry, though, does not concern Euan or even Trinity College, Oxford. The really troubling aspect of this affair is the Blairs' high-handed treatment of the press. When it suits them they are happy to use their children for photo-opportunities outside No. 10, or to publicise pictures of Tony cooing at baby Leo. But when it does not suit them they seek the kind of protection which might be thought par for the course in a Third World dictatorship but is foreign to our own way of doing things. Cherie Blair does not always act wisely where her own children are concerned: a few weeks ago it was revealed that in her Imelda Marcos mode she had asked a Downing Street official to ring the Ministry of Defence for help with Euan's homework. Now she and her husband have succeeded in shutting up the press — at any rate for the time being. But Cherie Blair cannot excise her friendship with Michael Beloff. Section 6.1 of the Press Complaints Commission allows for exceptions on grounds of public interest. I shall be astonished and dismayed if the Mail and the Telegraph do not succeed in making their case.
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