Cherie Blair was already seeing two boyfriends when she began a relationship with her future husband, she reveals in The Times today. In her autobiography, Speaking for Myself, Mrs Blair recalls the reasons why she chose Tony Blair.

Mrs Blair describes a Christmas dinner in 1975 hosted by Lord Irvine of Lairg, who was then head of the future couple’s chambers. “Tired though I was, I decided to sit it out until Derry went home on his own. Eventually he did. Then Tony and I took the bus . . . It was a double-decker and we went upstairs. It was completely empty and by the time we got off we knew each other better than when we’d got on. And even better the next morning.

“So that left with me with three men in my life. Tony knew about John but not about David [Attwood]. John knew about David but not about Tony, and poor David fondly imagined I was living a quiet life of hard work in dreary London.”

Mrs Blair recalls that she clambered aboard the No 74 bus on that late winter evening. The route has changed little in 30 years and the 74 still runs from Baker Street to Putney. In 1975 it swung by Aldwych and was a Routemaster model. Within a year Mr Blair had suggested marriage.

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• Full coverage: Cherie Blair autobiography

Background

• My complex life in Downing Street

• Secrecy and sadness behind memoir

• Leo: my miracle baby at 45 (and yes, he did have the MMR jab)

• The night I hated Tony

Background

• Miscarriage: ‘I'm afraid the baby's dead, Mrs Blair'

• The Queen and I: relations with the royals

• Cherie Blair's face-off with Campbell over Caplin

• Peter Foster and the ‘scandal' that never was

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• How I almost ruined Tony's final farewell

Multimedia

• Full coverage: Cherie Blair autobiography

In her autobiography Mrs Blair recounts meetings with Diana, Princess of Wales. Less than two months before the death of the Princess she had visited Chequers with Prince William and talked about how she would like to have more children.

Mrs Blair also discusses the day the family left Downing Street for good and the reaction of the former Prime Minister to her remark to the press of, “Bye, I won’t miss you!”

She writes: “ ‘You can’t resist it, can you?’ Tony said through clenched teeth. ‘You’re supposed to be dignified, you’re supposed to be gracious’.” By the time the car turned into the Mall however Mr Blair had “grinned because he loves me”.

Mrs Blair adds: “As the Victoria Memorial came into view at the end of the Mall, I saw once again the jubilant crowd of ten years before. I felt proud of him then, and I feel proud of him now. I remembered the vulnerable young man I first met . . . and the resilience and determination that took him all the way to Downing Street.”

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