From fashion designer Nicole Farhi alone, Mrs Blair bought clothes worth nearly £21,000 for herself and the prime minister, paying just over £8,000.
She also had substantial discounts from Burberry, James Lakeland, Ungaro, Joseph, and Maria Grachvogel, amongst others.
These “wholesale” discounts had been negotiated by Carole Caplin, Mrs Blair’s trainer and personal shopper.
Sir Tony, who was prime minister between 1997 and 2007, also benefited from a 25% discount from Paul Smith, famous for his suits.
The freshly released documents reveal how the optics of the discounts and spending was a concern for Downing Street officials at the time.
“In terms of public perception,” wrote No 10 private secretary Clare Sumner, “the amounts involved are quite large”.
Along with the cabinet secretary, she recommended that the Blairs should pay back part of the discount, though Cherie was entitled to divide her purchases into two, on the basis that half the clothes were required for her role as a “career woman”.
They would say the Blairs had “commercial terms” from the designers, which were usually a discount of about 10 or 15%.
She suggested other options, including saying that Mrs Blair had the same treatment as other high profile individuals with a personal shopper, and that she needed the clothes for public engagements of her own.
She said Mrs Blair sometimes gave her outfits to charities or exhibitions after use: “So it is difficult to see how anyone could seriously allege she is acquiring a clear personal benefit out of your position as PM.”