The temptation to make eye-popping sums out of “tell-all” political memoirs is just too great. Cherie Blair, wife of the former UK prime minister, John Prescott, his ex-deputy, and Lord Levy, his former fund­raiser, have all rushed into print at the same time. There is a need for an insider’s account of the Blair years and, in particular, Tony Blair’s handling of the Iraq war. Sadly, this stampede falls short of that. It offers little more than instantly forgettable gossip.

One cannot but admire the hypocrisy of Mrs Blair and Mr Prescott. A woman who fiercely defended her children’s rights to privacy while her husband was prime minister now mentions the death of an unborn child. Her youngest son will struggle to live down the toe-curling revelation that he was conceived at Balmoral, the Queen’s summer holiday residence.