The UK prime minister's wife, Cherie Blair, said last night that she was "obviously sorry" to share the same planet as Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, after he decided to occupy Palestinian areas on a permanent basis.

A spokesman for the letterbox-mouthed barrister said "Mrs Blair's comments regarding a feeling of hopelessness should not have been taken out of context, and if this suggested to the Israeli government that they had no alternative but to invade civilians' towns and deny them any further semblance of a normal life, then this was certainly unintentional."

However, Ned Hammerhack, editor of the Jewish Monocle, said Mrs Blair had risked crossing the "dangerously narrow line" between spouting meaningless platitudes and saying something constructive. "There can be no rational explanation for targeting civilians in the way the Israeli army have," he drawled, "and any attempt at mutual understanding can only harm the on-going war process."