Describing India as a country that shares the democratic values of Britain, Cherie Blair credited that the nation for helping UK -- through its migrants -- transform into a real multi-cultural entity.

Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, lauded the role of the British-Indian community in heralding a change in the nation's fabric.

"Tony's (Blair) emphasis throughout his tenure was to ensure that Britian becomes a truly multi-cultural nation. People from the Indian subcontinent in general and the Indian community in particular has played a huge role in changing UK into an all assimilating society," she said at a function in the capital to promote her autobiography 'Speaking For Myself', recalling how the Britain of the late 1970s was different from the one today, Blair cited her visiting a South Indian restaurant there accompanied by an Indian friend's father.

"Going by the glares of the people, I realised for the first time that my countrymen did not approve a white Britisher accompanying an Indian man," she said.

"I am glad things have changed for better," she added. Speaking about her book, that had raised a number of controversies at the time of its release, Blair, a renowned barrister, said it is not a political account, but the story of a woman in the backdrop of a transforming country. If you want to read a political account of my husband's policies and days as the prime minister, wait for his book," she said.

Blair, who has been associated with a number of philanthropic activities in India, said women in developing nations are today facing the same struggles that were faced by women of her mother's generation in receiving education and making a career for themselves.

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