Blunkett and friends have last word on Fortier affair
JUST when David Blunkett thought that he had weathered the storm over his affair with Kimberley Fortier, the publisher of The Spectator.
Stephen Pollard the author of a forthcoming biography on Blunkett, is writing a new chapter on the three-year relationship between the Home Secretary and the twice-married American socialite.
Blunkett has given Pollard, a senior Fellow at the Centre for the New Europe, several interviews for the book — to be published by Hodder in January — and authorised close friends to speak on his behalf.
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So have Blunkett or his friends broken their silence about Fortier? “I am not going to be drawn on who has said what,” said Pollard. “But I will be writing about the relationship with Kimberley Fortier. It is a biography of Blunkett, after all. I will provide an interesting new insight into the relationship.”
Pollard will also give more details about the Home Secretary’s meeting with the Prime Minister in Tuscany after details of the liasion became public. The book is semi-authorised, which means that Blunkett has no power of veto over what Pollard writes. “I will finish it after the Labour Party conference,” said Pollard, who has known Blunkett for nine years.
Pollard, who will also examine the source of the leak about the affair, is involved in serialisation talks and has had a sudden flurry of interest from newspapers. “I think we will be concluding a deal quite shortly,” he said.
Rupert Lancaster, the editor of the book, David Blunkett, said: “It’s probably fair to say that the controversy has done nothing to harm the commercial prospects of the book . . . as long as David Blunkett does not resign before publication.”
Bad blood
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THE scary Exorcist star Linda Blair is not happy after being offered a measly $279 (£153) for use of footage from her only famous role to promote Exorcist: The Beginning. The figure was arrived at following Screen Actors Guild rules, by trebling the daily rate of $93 that applied in 1973. Haven’t they heard of inflation? More to the point, haven’t they seen what happens when Linda throws a hissy fit?
Running scared
HERB ELLIOT, the 1960 Olympic 1,500 metres gold medal-winner still regarded as the greatest miler, having never lost any of his 44 races over the distance, has been musing on his surprise retirement from athletics at 22. Eliot, an Australian said in a radio interview that if people woke in the night feeling the way he did when he was on the starting line, they would send for an ambulance.