Close `friend' sold Blair baby story -- Report
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

LONDON, DEC 18: A mole at the centre of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's inner circle sold the story of his wife's pregnancy because he or she was short of money, publicist Max Clifford claimed in an interview for Friday's Times newspaper. Clifford said the informant, whom he refused to name but described as a close friend of the Blairs, came forward about a week before the story broke on November 18. Clifford passed the news to the mass-circulation Daily Mirror.

Cherie Blair is expecting the couple's fourth child at 45. She was just 13 weeks pregnant when the news broke and had not even told her own father. The Blairs said they had hoped to keep the news under wraps until later. The baby will be the first born to a serving British premier in 150 years.

Clifford is one of Britain's most powerful public relations consultants. He is also responsible for the story on novelist Jeffrey Archer's false alibi in a 1987 libel trial, revelations which forced him to quit the race to become London's mayor.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.