Cherie Blair apologises in row over suicide killers comment

Cherie Blair was forced to apologise last night after she remarked that young Palestinians "feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up".

The Prime Minister's wife made her remarks at the launch of a £500,000 charity appeal for Medical Aid for Palestinians. When asked whether the public would be deterred from donating money because of the latest suicide bomb in Jerusalem, she replied: "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress."

Michael Ancram, the Tory spokesman on foreign affairs, claimed the timing of her words would cause "massive offence" to the families of the victims of the outrage. The Israeli embassy expressed its "regret that any public statements which might be interpreted as expressing understanding for Palestinian terrorism should be made, particularly on a day on which 19 innocent Israeli lives were taken by a suicide bomber from Hamas".

Mrs Blair authorised an unprecedented public apology. Her spokeswoman said: "If any offence has been taken from the interpretation of her comments then Mrs Blair is obviously sorry. None was intended and it goes without saying that she condemns the atrocity today in the strongest possible terms, along with all right-minded people."

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, admitted he felt "compassion" for the bombers. Speaking in an interview with The Times before hearing Mrs Blair's comments, he condemned the bombing as "despicable". But he said: "When young people go to their deaths, we can all feel a degree of compassion for those youngsters."