London: Former US President Bill Clinton was "bloody stupid" to go along with White House intern Monika Lewinski, the wife of ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.

While Cherie Blair said that she understood what would have turned Monika on, she identified the role played by Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, as a major one in keeping her parents together.

"In January 1998, the Monica Lewinsky scandal finally broke and my heart bled for Hillary, coming on top, as it did, of the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit," Cherie said in her memoir 'Speaking for Myself', the excerpts of which were published in The Times today.

"Inevitably I thought back to all those young interns, and our guided tour of the West Wing by the President himself, of the Oval Office and the little room off it with the photocopier. My reaction was basically, Oh Bill, how could you?".

Offerring some justification for Lewinksy's feelings, Blair's wife wrote: "From the young woman's point of view, I can quite see how it happened. Bill Clinton is a tremendously charismatic man who is able to mesmerise anybody he meets and give them the feeling that he is totally interested in them and what they are saying, which is clearly not always the case".

However, "as for him, I thought he was bloody stupid," Cherie said, adding she was "doubly impressed" by Hillary's conduct after the story broke out.

"Yet I could see for myself how angry she was with him. Not just for humiliating her, but for jeopardising their joint project, and I could also see how desperately he was trying to win back her approval," she wrote.

"The shining light in all this was Chelsea... In all this time she was a very important link between her parents," Cherie Blair said.  

"I think that the fact that she was supportive of her mum and understood how her mum was feeling, yet at the same time was able to forgive her dad, was a very important part of why they stayed together," the report said.  

Lauding Hillary Clinton for the dignity she showed during the whole episode, Blair's wife mentioned: "The most important aspect, she said, was not to let it undermine the presidency. On a personal level, however, there is no doubt that she was furious and hurt - and rightly".

Source : PTI