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Charity Case

by | 26th, October 2005

‘CHERIE Blair may be no superwoman, but she is, as the publicity material for her five-day speaking tour of Australia last February says, “the most powerful woman in Britain”.

‘Do you have it in a bob?’

So reports the Telegraph, which also notes that those paying up to £120 a pop to listen to powerful Cherie also scored an audience with “a writer, lawyer and human rights activist”.

We could go on. So we will. There’s Cherie the mother, Cherie the wife and Cherie the daughter, to name but three of her accomplishments.

And looking at the pictures in the Telegraph and Times of Cherie asking photographers for donations to the Poppy Appeal yesterday, there’s Cherie the Ann Widdecombe look-alike.

Cherie’s new hairstyle is not to taken lightly, seemingly inspired by the pre-blonde days of the woman known as Doris Karloff.

But enough of this, say you. We should be kinder. We should stop getting at Cherie? Problem is that like some never-say-die Aunt Sally with bad hair the self-styled First Lady keeps springing up in our faces.

And now she’s in strife again. “Oh dear…” says the Times’s headline. “What have I done now? Cherie’s in trouble again.”

For those of you who haven’t followed every minute of Cherie’s career as a celebrity, the Times produces a “Chronicle of Gaffes”.

There’s the £10 fine Cherie earned for travelling by train without a ticket; her apparent sympathy for suicide bombers; and her accepting $30,000 for a 90-minute talk in Washington while her husband was in town to talk with President Bush about cancelling African debt.

And at the foot of the list is the latest gaffe. The Australian speaking tour – for which Cherie was paid a reported £102,000 – is attracting the attention of the Australian authorities.

The Times says that at the A$195-a-head gala dinner, held in aid of the Children’s Cancer institute, A$192,000 (£81,000) was raised. But only A$16,000 (£6,774) went to the needy. Celebrity speaker Cherie took home £17,000, although the Telegraph says her fee remains undisclosed.

This looks bad for Cherie, and worse the charity. Under the terms of the state of Victoria’s Fund-raising Appeals Act at least 60 per cent of funds raised in an appeal has to go to the charity.

This did not happen. And the charity has until tomorrow to explain why it should not be stripped of its charity licence in Victoria.

We’ll wait and see what occurs. But in the meantime, it’s encouraging to see that Cherie is using her notable money-raising powers to support the Poppy Appeal.

But she could do more. Imagine how much cash could be raised if she were to sign a few poppies, or press them between the leaves of her book…’



Posted: 26th, October 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink