Cherie Blair flies out to join her children for holiday in France

Cherie and Tony Blair arrived in France yesterday to start their holiday, 24 hours after Mrs Blair left the hospital where she had been treated following a miscarriage.

Mrs Blair, 47, looked relaxed as she and the Prime Minister stepped off the plane in Toulouse, south-west France, on the way to joining their four children at their rented villa.

The couple were met by a car under the gaze of waiting media. They then headed for the village of Le Vernet in the Haute-Garonne region, where they will stay for the next three weeks in the Chateau du Moulin, sheltered from prying eyes by thick hedges.

Their children – Euan, 18, Nicky, 16, Kathryn, 14, and two-year-old Leo – travelled to France on Tuesday and have been looked after by Mrs Blair's mother, Gale Booth.

The Prime Minister and his wife postponed their journey after she underwent surgery at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in central London on Monday night following the miscarriage.

The arrival of the Blair children in France without their parents had sparked speculation that the Prime Minister had been delayed because of the crisis over Iraq, forcing Downing Street to release a statement.

After a short break in Cumbria last weekend, the Blairs will continue their holiday under the joint surveillance of French and British security services. Mr Blair has no official engagements but has invited France's new centre-right Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, for an informal visit to the villa.

Before they left, Mrs Blair received messages from well-wishers including the Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, and the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and his wife, Sarah, whose daughter, Jennifer, died in January after being born prematurely.