Carpeting over cracks in Cherie's feud with Brown

Referring to comments his wife made about the former Chancellor Gordon Brown, Tony Blair once said that at least he knew she "wasn't going to run off with the guy next door". Now a television programme shows how deep their rift ran: all the way to the very fabric linking 10 and 11 Downing Street.

A BBC documentary The Real Cherie, fronted by Fiona Bruce, reveals how Mr Brown refused to pay for new carpets in the adjacent homes so that they might match, along with a string of other insights about Mrs Blair's 10-year sojourn at Downing Street. Mrs Blair said: "We did try to persuade No 11 to join us so we would have [the same] carpet all the way through, but I'm afraid the Treasury didn't want to spend the money."

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The hour-long programme, to be broadcast at 9pm on Wednesday, features interviews with the barrister's friends and family and charts her attitude to her husband's standing down as prime minister, as well as the controversies that have accompanied her. These include her handling of the purchase of flats in Bristol in 2002 for her son Euan, involving the convicted fraudster Peter Foster, and her friendship with Foster's then-girlfriend, the lifestyle coach Carole Caplin.

Regarding Mr Blair's resignation, Mrs Blair is filmed telling a Labour party member that she wanted Mr Blair to continue in his position. She says that the Foster affair "was blown out of proportion". Mrs Blair also reveals the unusual circumstances of her husband's marriage proposal. She says: "We went on holiday in 1979 to Tuscany ... and then as we were leaving to come home, as I was cleaning up in the bathroom ... he just announced while I was on my knees that maybe we should get married. It was terribly romantic."

The ex-prime minister's wife answers questions about her controversial lecture tours that have netted her more than £500,000. Mrs Blair, who earns around £250,000 a year as a human rights lawyer, earned an estimated £100,000 for four speeches in Vancouver, Toronto, Denver and San Jose last month, where tickets cost £320 each.

She denies using her status as the prime minister's wife to earn cash. In the documentary she adds: "I speak all the time. I'm a barrister. I speak for a living but I also make many, many speeches for charities and everything else. I think I probably make 100 to 120 speeches a year. Of those only 10 are for payment."

Asked whether her speeches would enjoy the same interest were she not married to Mr Blair the lawyer replied: "I really don't want to answer that question, actually. I don't know what it's got to do with anything. There's no way I exploited my position."

The documentary also sees Euan, 23, commenting on the family's arrival at Downing Street in 1997. He claims that the birth of his brother Leo in 2002 helped maintain normal family life. He says: "There is a universality to having to bring up a kid and change nappies. Mum and Dad have always been keen to emphasise to us that this is not how our lives are always going to be; to realise that this sort of thing is fairly fleeting."

Laura Bush, wife of the US President, describes the heated arguments that Mrs Blair had with her husband. Mrs Bush says: "She was straight-talking and the President likes that. She had different views to him, yes. I remember one occasion at dinner at Chequers when it became quite heated. I am not going to tell you what it was about."