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It may well be cheaper to stick with the existing policy and take out some life assurance to cover the gap until the policy matures.But life assurance premiums will inevitably be higher than they would have been when the policy-holder was younger and fitter, and in some cases it may be best to take a lump sum plus a reduced pension. Some life companies will allow return- of-premium plans to be converted to a full return-of-fund basis, although this will usually involve reducing the amount the policy will pay out if the policy-holder lives to retirement.David Aaron, the senior partner of the independent financial advisers David Aaron Partnership based in Woburn Sands, says anyone with a return- of-premium policy needs to obtain figures from the life company on whether a switch is possible and if so what the relative payouts would be, and then decide whether to change. Maybe the sales executives who sold the policies did advise the buyers to do just that. But it will be difficult to prove at this distance of time, and the pension plan premiums would obviously have been higher.Some return-of-premium policies were still being sold as late as 1990, so anyone who bought a pension plan before that date would be well advised to check, with their independent financial adviser or with the company that provided the policy, just what sort of policy they have, quoting the details from the policy itself. And, also like most couples now, the Blairs have always been a dual career family Somehow, they have made it work.Many do not. These days, Penny Mansfield says, a satisfying marriage is not so much a romantic relationship as a partnership based on shared goals and respect “The modern marriage requires three things,” she says “You’ve got to communicate effectively. You can’t simply not say anything to each other and get on with your roles Secondly, you’ve got to negotiate fairly Each person must feel as if their needs have been regarded.

Three, you need to manage conflict safely and you mustn’t allow them to become personal and nasty.”For the Blairs, compromise began almost from the beginning. Early on, Cherie decided to quit competing directly with him for a tenancy in Lord Irvine’s chambers and joined the chambers of libel lawyer George Carman instead Tony Blair stayed put Their next challenge would come in the political arena. Both were passionate about politics (she had joined the Labour Party aged 16 in 1970, he waited until 1975) and decided that each would try to get elected to Parliament. Then they are said to have made a deal: whoever made it first would continue in politics while the other supported the family Both stood for election Cherie almost lost her deposit in Thanet North. Tony won in Sedgefield in 1983.Fifteen years later, the deal still stands.

It has lasted through the births of three children and much more. Cherie Booth – as she is known by colleagues – has made her family well-off if not rich. There are signs, too, that there have been negotiations over his career, particularly in his decision not to contest the deputy leadership under John Smith. “When it came to whether or not he was going to run for the deputy leader’s job, Euan said he was glad that Daddy has chosen to spend more time at home,” Cherie told interviewer Barbara Amiel in 1992. “I think Tony is incredibly talented and I want him to succeed – he’s got an incredible amount to offer – but we’ve got young children and they need to be protected.”John Smith’s death in 1994 forced the decision that the Blairs had thought would wait until their children were grown. Tony Blair told an interviewer last year that he heard the news while driving along the Great Northern Road in Aberdeen “I had to speak to Cherie before I made any decision.

I got back to London as quickly as I could.” In Islington, he and Cherie sat down and talked. “Cherie said, ‘You didn’t ask for this, you didn’t plan it, but it’s here and you’ve got to do it’,” said Tony “I said: ‘Look outside the front door There were journalist and photographers and camera crews. This is what we’re going to expose the children to’.”In the end he listened to his wife, but he has stuck to his part of the bargain too. At a reception to mark her husband becoming leader, a local councillor noted that she would be giving up work if her husband became PM.