Cherie Blair, wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, has signed a deal with a London publisher to write her autobiography.

Little, Brown Book Group announced the deal on Wednesday, but would not release financial terms.

Cherie Blair's book will deal with life inside 10 Downing Street, the British prime minister's official residence, as well as her own work as a human rights lawyer.
(Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press)

The book, titled Cherie Blair: the Autobiography, would be "a warm, intimate and often very funny portrait of a family living in extraordinary circumstances," the publisher said in a statement.

The Blairs had young children when they moved into 10 Downing St.

Blair's book, to be released in October 2008, is likely to be out long before her husband's memoirs, which a Blair representative says are far from publication.

Cherie Blair's book is expected to cover her childhood in working-class Liverpool followed by her rise to become a leading human rights lawyer.

However, much of the media interest is likely to centre on her role as wife of Tony Blair during his 10 years as prime minister, and, in particular, Blair's relationship with his successor Gordon Brown.

"I feel so privileged to have travelled so far," Cherie Blair said in a statement.

"So much has happened — things that my grandma could never have dreamt of —that it feels wrong somehow just to let it pass as if the journey had no meaning," she said.

Blair, 52, has taken on landmark cases that sometimes brought her into conflict with her husband's government.

Last year she lost a case in Britain's highest court over a high school student's right to wear a Muslim gown that covers all of her body.

She also has been outspoken about the use of torture, saying it was never acceptable and that evidence obtained through torture should be inadmissible in court. 

Tony Blair's government has been criticized over its co-operation with the U.S. in the Iraq war and its dealings with militants, as the U.S. sends prisoners to Guantanamo Bay and to countries where they might be tortured.

Cherie Blair previously co-authored The Goldfish Bowl, about how the spouses of previous prime ministers coped with life in the public eye.