Cheriegate-Caplin vindicated against the Mail

The name of Carole Caplin will still send shivers down the spines of the Blair entourage.

You may recall that her closeness to Cherie very nearly brought about a scandal and forced the Prime Minister's wife to go on prime time TV to apologise for her behaviour,blaming the pressures of daily life and the juggling of a lot of balls in the air

Her relationship with convicted conman Peter Foster sent the Blair spin doctors into a tail spin after his part in purchasing two flats for Cherie in Bristol was revealed.

Mrs Blair had previously briefed the press office at 10 Downing Street to make a public statement claiming that Foster was not involved with the deal.

When the truth came out via the Daily Mail which obtained the email correspondence between Peter Foster and Mrs Blair,from Mr Foster, and apparently at a price,the shit so to speak hit the fan.

Caplin started libel proceedings against the Daily Mail for a newspaper article that suggested that Caplin might have been considering selling the story of her time with the Blairs and to "blow the lid on Tony and Cherie Blair’s sex secrets.

Now Caplin has won "substantial" libel damages from the Daily Mail at the High Court.

Cherie spills the beans

Well the political story that we have all been waiting for from the Times has just been broken on Sky News.

It is the revelation that......wait for it........Tony Blair is in regular contact with Gordon Brown and is advising him on how to win the next election.

The Times ahead of its serialisation of Cherie Blair's autobiography also tells us

Mr Blair was prepared to step down in 2005 but was not sure Mr Brown would implement public service reforms.

No doubt more on this tomorrow.