Cherie Blair (born 23 September 1954), known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is an English barrister. She is married to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Early life

Born in Bury, then Lancashire, now Greater Manchester, England and raised in Ferndale Road, Waterloo, North Liverpool. Her father, the actor Tony Booth, left her mother Gale when Cherie Booth was eight years old. Booth and her younger sister, Lyndsey, were then raised by their mother Gale and their paternal grandmother Vera Booth, a devout Roman Catholic. Cherie and her sister both attended Catholic schools in Crosby in Liverpool. Cherie Booth attended Seafield Convent Grammar which is now part of Sacred Heart Catholic College, where she achieved 4 Grade A GCE A Level passes. Booth has six half sisters, including the journalist Lauren Booth. She is a practising Catholic.


University, marriage, family

She studied law at the London School of Economics and graduated with a First Class degree. She later came at the top of her year in the bar exams, while teaching law at the University of Westminster. In 1976, while she was studying to become a barrister, she met Tony Blair. She obtained a pupillage in the chambers of Derry Irvine ahead of him, although he was also taken on. Married on 29 March 1980, they have four children: Euan Anthony (b. 19 January 1984), Nicholas John (b. 6 December 1985), Kathryn Hazel (b. 2 March 1988), and Leo George (b. 20 May 2000).