Blair comes to wife's defense

LONDON -- More than a week into a messy political row over Cherie Blair's dealings with an Australian con man, Prime Minister Tony Blair came to his wife's defense Wednesday, accusing the media of building a scandal from "a whole mountain of distortion and half-truths."

Blair praised the long and emotional televised statement his wife made Tuesday, in which she acknowledged making mistakes in her dealings with ex-convict Peter Foster -- who helped her buy two apartments in Bristol -- but denied doing anything wrong.

"It's been a horrible time for Cherie, I'm very proud of what she did yesterday," Blair said.

"All I hope is that the public understands when one of these situations happens, there are parts of the media . . . that take these grains of truth and on top of that a whole mountain of distortion and half-truths is built," the prime minister said.

The affair became a political headache for the Blairs last week when the prime minister's office first denied, then confirmed, Foster's involvement in the purchases. He met Cherie Blair through his girlfriend, Carole Caplin, a friend and adviser to the prime minister's wife.

"The person that I know and I'm married to I'm very proud of, and I know that she has integrity and decency," Blair said. "And some of the things that have been written bear absolutely no resemblance to the person that is my wife."

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