Cherie kept her official car and favourite driver for seven months AFTER Blair quit

Cherie Blair used an official Government car and driver which was funded by the taxpayer for seven months after her husband left office.

The ex-Prime Minister’s wife continued to be driven to social functions and engagements by her favourite No10 driver, ‘Dave’, after Tony Blair quit last June.

The provision of the Vauxhall Omega and chauffeur are estimated to have cost about £25,000 in fuel, maintenance and the driver’s salary.

But in February, Mrs Blair made an extraordinary deal with the Government Car Service to foot the bill herself for the vehicle and ‘Dave’, who, among his other duties, once held a bucket for Mrs Blair while she vomited into it.

Mrs Blair, the first PM’s spouse to be given an official Government car and driver, said of ‘Dave’ in her recent autobiography: ‘He was so kind that day I swore then I would love him forever.’

A Whitehall source said: ‘Cherie calls Dave on his mobile 24/7 and he is at her beck and call whenever she wants him.’

A spokesman for Mrs Blair confirmed last night that she has paid for the
driver and car since February after security chiefs decided she no longer required the close protection she had been given as the Prime Minister’s wife.

He added that the private arrangement was due to finish this month, and denied suggestions she had applied for it to continue indefinitely.

Opposition MPs last night criticised the wealthy QC.

Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a former Army infantry commander, said: ‘There were plenty of soldiers facing death in Iraq and Afghanistan on whom this taxpayers’ money should have been spent.

‘This is an expensive conceit by Cherie Blair – she is clearly desperate to retain the trappings of power.’

Mrs Blair had used her own cars when her husband first entered Downing Street in 1997.

She was provided with a Government car and chauffeur after a security review in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

By contrast, Mrs Blair’s predecessor, Norma Major, on the occasions she was driven in an official vehicle, was sent an invoice, while Lady Thatcher’s late husband Denis, despite real death threats at the time from the IRA, was often seen strolling down Whitehall or catching a bus using his OAP pass.