The actor Tony Booth, father of the British Prime Minister's wife, Ms Cherie Blair, had a "Brits Out" slogan daubed on his car while he was away from his Co Cavan home at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Christine Newman reports.
Mr Booth and his wife, Stephanie, were returning on the ferry from Britain when they received a call from gardaí to say their car had been vandalised with the slogan daubed on it and the tyres slashed.
As Mr Booth talked to The Irish Times yesterday, he remained good-humoured about the incident, although he has now lost his no-claims bonus.
He said he and his wife had moved to Ireland and had lived in their house near Blacklion since February. His antecedents came from Ireland. He loved it and never had any trouble before.
"People here have made us very welcome and are very upset about it, but there's always one idiot, isn't there," he remarked.
The car is an old Mercedes which was parked outside the house while the couple were away. It has Irish number plates so he believes the culprit knew his identity.
"I think it was somebody making a silly statement. They obviously knew I was at the Labour Party conference in Britain and would have seen us on television there," he said.
However, there is one aspect that is annoying for Mr Booth and his wife.
"The thing we're really cheesed off over is that we've lost our no-claims bonus. That means my insurance is going to go up. I have enough trouble with insurance being an actor," he said.
He said he remembered years ago in Britain when his insurance was increased. He was told it would be higher because, as an actor, he could be carrying somebody like Elizabeth Taylor in his car.
"I told them 'I should be so lucky'," he recalled.
Mr Booth went to Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, yesterday to collect a courtesy car. His Mercedes was taken away by gardaí for examination after the incident.
"We've got a courtesy car now. It's a manual and I haven't driven one in years," he added.
Mr Booth said he hoped he would get his own car back next week.
His wife, Steph Booth, writes a regular features column in The Irish Times.