High-earning lawyer with a love of the high life

Only two months ago, Cherie Blair was enjoying a half-term break with her mother and three children in Bermuda, a favoured resort of playboys and tax exiles.

The family's air fares, worth up to £3,000 each, were paid for by the Bermuda government and the Blair "family group" stayed in the comfortable official residence of the governor, for a nominal fee of about $50 (£32) a day. Mrs Blair was in Bermuda to make a speech on women in public life.

The trip, revealed by Tony Blair in the register of members' interests yesterday, is a reminder of the sort of perks that come with being the Prime Minister's wife.

It is not the first time Mrs Blair has enjoyed a cut-price holiday. In January, the Egyptian government subsidised a family vacation to Sharm al-Sheikh and the pyramids at Giza. She and Tony have also accepted hospitality from Alain-Dominique Perrin, a luxury goods millionaire, who gave them the use of a 15th-century chateau. They have also been given holidays in Italy by Prince Girolamo Strozzi and the MP Geoffrey Robinson.

Some have asked why Mrs Blair, a successful and well-paid QC and part-time judge, has accepted such "freebies" when by refusing them she could have avoided the press criticism that followed. It is not as though she is stingy – she pays for her hairdresser to attend overseas trips and has no qualms about shelling out hundreds of pounds on clothes by her favourite designers, including Ronit Zilka.

But observers were mystified at this year's Labour Party conference when Mrs Blair, conducting a tour of stalls run by companies, charities and lobby groups, helped herself to handfuls of freebies. Flunkies stood by with bags to fill with mugs, pens, soft toys, CDs, stress balls and holders for mobile phones, which she informed stall-holders were "for the kids".

Yet the same observers were touched by her empathy with people she met – particularly children and the elderly.

She is regarded as a loving, attentive mother who takes a sincere interest in her children's schooling and guards their privacy closely.

With her forensic mind and manifest interest in policy, many believe that Mrs Blair, who in 1983 stood unsuccessfully as Labour candidate in Thanet North, could have become a big political player capable of achieving high office. She took a first-class degree at the London School of Economics and came top in her bar exams. But it has taken years for her intelligence and acumen to be publicly recognised. The first images of Mrs Blair were of a doe-eyed wife looking adoringly at her husband after Labour's 1997 election victory. But she has since shrugged off her reputation as a submissive political spouse.

The Prime Minister's wife plays a crucial and increasingly public role in government initiatives to help young people, improve conditions of prisoners and help women facing domestic violence.

Some saw her hand in Mr Blair's recent interest in the impact of sentencing on offenders and the renewed drive to help women suffering from domestic abuse. She has certainly helped push forward the agenda of women in public life.

But many ministers were dismayed that she had been allowed to chair "Millennium seminars" for businessmen and other experts at Downing Street while her husband and other elected ministers looked on from the audience. She faced criticism for wielding undue influence on policies without proper democratic accountability.

Question marks about her judgement have been raised on other occasions. Some were baffled to hear she had asked a minion to obtain information from the Ministry of Defence to help Euan Blair with his homework. Others suggested that hiring the royal train during the G8 summit for a trip for leaders' wives in 1998 created an unfortunate impression of loving "glitz".

And that is without mentioning her rent-a-quote, left-wing father, Tony Booth.

But it was her outburst earlier this year that Palestinians "feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up" that provoked the most outrage. She was forced to apologise.

Mrs Blair gives the impression of disliking press attention. But she does display a sense of proportion about it. After the 1997 election a photographer took a snatched shot of her in a short nightgown with dishevelled hair answering her front door. The photograph, the result of a stunt involving the delivery of flowers, was regarded as cruel and unflattering. But when the photographer won an award she attended the ceremony and presented him with the prize.