Is Cherie's judgement barking?

Good to see glossy magazines taking history seriously. Next month's Vanity Fair has assembled a panel of distinguished historians to assess Tony Blair's record. Simon Schama, Andrew Roberts, Tony Judt and Amanda Foreman were all... unavailable. Instead, the monthly recruited Cherie Booth QC, human rights advocate, memoirist and social commentator.

Where did she think that the last prime minister stood in the pantheon of British leaders? "He was fantastic. I'm sure history will judge him very well. I think he'll be up there with Churchill."

Unfortunately, Vanity Fair left out the copious footnotes that contained references to all the material supporting this conclusion, pleading lack of space. Although Ms Booth did say that "absolutely I did" agree with Tony Blair's decision to support President George Bush in waging the war in Iraq: "I did not know all the information, but I trusted Tony to make the right decision."

We can guess, though, at the detailed argumentation that compared Blair with Thatcher, Attlee and Lloyd George. But perhaps the most important footnote that was omitted from Cherie's interview was the one that made it clear that she was referring to Churchill the dog, of the Churchill Insurance adverts. Oh, yes!