Tony Blair was not above using his own wife's miscarriage to take some of the attention of his criminal invasion of Iraq, Cherie Blair says in her eye-wateringly detailed new book.

The former PM, who would face death by hanging if tried under the Nuremburg conventions for his actions in Iraq, decided that the best thing to do in the face of a deeply unpopular, illegal, immoral and corrupt war of aggression, was to try and cast himself in a vaguely sympathetic light by making news of the miscarriage public almost immediately.

'Shortly after she had told her husband of the miscarriage, Blair says her husband broke the news to the rest of the family and then told Campbell.

The pair then called her back to say that, with speculation mounting that troops could be sent to Iraq, it could send the wrong signal if they just cancelled the holiday and decided to tell the press.

"I couldn't believe it. There I was bleeding, and they were talking about what was going to be the line to the press. I put down the receiver and lay there staring at the ceiling as the pain began to grip," she wrote. '

"Religion must be rescued from extremism and irrelevance, Tony Blair said last night"

Now, it's tempting to simply mock the man who's done more to radicalise Islam than anyone apart from Dubya for his apparently blissful ignorance, but I can't resist a bit of cod-psychologising.

If it's true that the true artist only ever paints himself, I think we can all agree that Our Tone is a bit of a Michaelangelo. So bearing that in mind, before we take him by the hand of history and lead him gently toward the social worker of fate, I'm tempted to see this speech as a final warning before he puts the underpants on his head, the pencils up his nose and says "wibble."

By 'extremism' I'm tempted to read his recent full-on conversion to Catholicism and away from new-age primal scream therapy. By 'irrelevance' ... well...

*ahem* 

And it gets better. Here's Blair on why he doesn't talk about religion all that much.

"There is an assumption that before you take a decision you engage in some slightly cultish interaction with your religion. Third, you want to impose your religion on others. Fourth, you are pretending to be better than the next person. And finally, and worst of all, that you are somehow messianically trying to co-opt God to bestow a divine legitimacy on your politics."

Let's take that one at a time shall we?

1)slightly cultish interaction with your religion
As a Catholic who practices ritual cannibalism every week I don't know why he'd think that.

2)you want to impose your religion on others
Anthon Seldon notes
"Blair's Catholicism is different in one way to that of many of his new compratiots. He believes that all true religion can lead equally to God. His Interfaith Foundation, to be launched next year, will aim to bring together like-minded believers of all faiths."

Unfortunately because religion is entirely derived from authority that cannot be actually witnessed, 'true' is a rather flexible value. What it effectively means is 'I want to impose my value of true on you'.

3)And finally, and worst of all, that you are somehow messianically trying to co-opt God to bestow a divine legitimacy on your politics
Unlike for example, self-serving justifications for Iraq such as the 'hand of history'. I don't think God is special for Blair in his quest for legitimacy, it's just the latest in a long line of appeal-to-authority excuses. Hopefully others will also see it as such.