So, Tony and Wendi - what DID Rupert say that wiped the smiles from your faces? First image of all three players in a gripping drama (and it really does speak a thousand words!)

 

• Pictures from Wendi Deng's 40th birthday party in New York 2008 revealed
• Former PM Mr Blair laughs and claps alongside Ms Deng in an early image
• But the mood changes abruptly when media tycoon Mr Murdoch appears
• Ms Deng had earlier written of her crush on Mr Blair, who has a 'good body'
• Blair allies deny they had affair, and there is no evidence to the contrary

By Simon Walters
  Just when they were starting to relax, look who turns up...
This is the first time that all three protagonists in the gripping Tony-Wendi-Rupert triangle have been seen pictured together – and the ‘body language’ is compelling. 
The sequence of pictures, which has never been published before, shows Tony Blair, Wendi Deng and her ex-husband Rupert Murdoch celebrating Ms Deng’s 40th birthday party in New York.

The sequence of pictures, which has never been published before, shows Tony Blair, Wendi Deng and her ex-husband Rupert Murdoch celebrating Ms Deng's 40th birthday party in New York

In the first two images, Mr Blair and Ms Deng - who was then married to the media mogul - look carefree and relaxed as they laugh together over the dinner table

In the first two images, Mr Blair and Ms Deng – who was then married to the media mogul – look carefree and relaxed as they laugh together over the dinner table. 
But the mood changes abruptly in the third picture, when the tycoon appears behind them.
Mr Blair appears to lean away from Chinese-born Ms Deng, while a shadow has been cast over Mr Murdoch’s wife.

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By the time the fourth picture was taken her expression was frozen into a sullen glare.
While Mr Blair – complete with trademark thumb-in-belt pose – is engaged in friendly conversation with Mr Murdoch, something has caused Ms Deng to stare in the opposite direction, with her back turned to the two men. 

But the mood changes abruptly in the third picture, when the tycoon appears behind them. Mr Blair appears to lean away from Chinese-born Ms Deng, while a shadow has been cast over Mr Murdoch's wife

By the time the fourth picture was taken her expression was frozen into a sullen glare. While Mr Blair - complete with trademark thumb-in-belt pose - is engaged in friendly conversation with Mr Murdoch, something has caused Ms Deng to stare in the opposite direction, with her back turned to the two men

Mr Murdoch invited 40 of Ms Deng’s closest friends, including actress Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban, singer Billy Joel and author Arianna Huffington, to the £100,000 party on the rooftop of the Gramercy Park Hotel in 2008, where they were served ‘pasta, steak and cake’ and enjoyed a 20-minute set by classical pianist Lang Lang.
Mr Murdoch held the bash shortly before he started to harbour suspicions about his third wife’s friendship with the former Prime Minister. 
This newspaper revealed in December that Ms Deng’s crush on Mr Blair was laid bare in a note in which she confessed how attractive she found him, and that the pair had stayed overnight at one of  Mr Murdoch’s homes without  his knowledge.

Allegation: It is claimed Miss Deng (right) wrote a note to herself while still married to Rupert Murdoch (left)

Going topless: The former prime minister on holiday in 2005. It is claimed Miss Deng wrote a note to herself, rhapsodising about Mr Blair's 'good body', his 'really, really good legs' - even his 'butt'

Wedding day: Mr Murdoch and Miss Deng married in 1999, when she was 30 and he was 68

We were also first to reveal how a furious Mr Murdoch ended all ties with his former friend and ally, Mr Blair, because he felt ‘betrayed’.
Further details of lovestruck Ms Deng’s note, in which she praised Mr Blair’s ‘good body’, his ‘really, really good legs’ and even his ‘butt’ were revealed by US magazine Vanity Fair last month.

This newspaper also disclosed that a cache of emails between Ms Deng and Mr Blair had been discovered when the Murdochs separated. They were divorced last year.
Mr Blair’s friends deny he had an affair with Ms Deng and this newspaper has no evidence to the contrary.

Family friends: Wendi Deng and Cherie Blair were also friendly in the past and appeared together to promote the Chinese version of Mrs Blair's autobiography in Beijing in 2009

Close allies: Mr Blair and Mr Murdoch smile as they speak together before an awards dinner in Washington D.C. in 2008, when they were still personal friends and political allies

But 83-year-old Mr Murdoch, chairman of the News Corp media giant, insists that he was deceived.
Some of Mr Blair’s allies say that he did not reciprocate Ms Deng’s feelings, but was simply trying to help her cope with her marriage problems.
In his tribute speech to his wife at the 40th party, Mr Murdoch raised laughter when he joked to the guests about being married to Ms Deng ‘and her BlackBerry’ – before explaining that he only cared about her attachment to the electronic device because: ‘I hate sharing you with anyone’.