Teflon Tony
The Tony Blair Legacy Project
Cherie Blair – “I’ll never stop worrying about money”
Dec 6th
In an astonishing admission Cherie Blair has said that despite being ‘comfortable’ she will never stop worrying about money.
Cherie’s definition of comfortable is slightly removed from the real world. The Blairs’ property portfolio includes a £3.65 million terraced house in Connaught Square (with a £1.27 million ‘guest house’ behind), a £5.75 million mansion in Bucks and the famous ‘dodgy flats’ in Bristol worth a mere £500k.
She must be struggling as her husband only pockets a paltry £2 million a year from the bank JP Morgan and a trifling £500k annually from Zurich Financial Services. This in addition from his dull, self-obsessed speeches in which he has reportedly earned £5.3 million since being ousted. In addition his bargain-bin destined memoirs have also so far earned him £4.6 million.
Tony must be a real dynamo managing to hold down all these part time jobs as I would have thought trying to bring peace to the Middle East would be pretty much a full time job.
Still it’s nice to see he can take time out from his various crusades to pop over to Azerbaijan at the behest of an obscure Oligarch with business links to Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. He earned £100k for that little number, hardly worth getting out of bed for.
Of course these figures pale into insignificance when compared to the ‘really rich list’ which the Blairs long to be on. They are not in the same league as his paymaster Oligarch or the Rothschilds and it’s unlikely they ever will be which is possibly why Cherie worries so much about cash. Perhaps the poor lambs don’t end up seeing much of it after it has been channeled through Blair’s web of companies that is so deviously set up that the Guardian is running a competition to see if anyone can unravel them.
It’s a good job then that the taxpayer pays him a pension of £63,468 a year, as well as £84,000 to fund a private office.
Nice work if you can get it.
Time to investigate Tony Blair over web of companies
Nov 16th
As Tony Blair used a speech in Zurich to press for less state intervention in business it appears the state may have to intervene in his business.
It seems Tony has not been exactly forthcoming on what his businesses actually do. Â According to a city accountant featured in the piece it looks as though he has set up his Windrush Ventures company formation structure to avoid prying eyes.
For those interested in unraveling exactly what he is up to the trail starts here. Search for ‘Windrush Ventures’ and for a couple of quid you can have copies of the company accounts and an unique insight into how companies are structured by those looking to avoid scrutiny.
Blair, Powell’s Brother and the Libyan Connection
Nov 8th
The Daily Telegraph reports on how a secretive company run by the brother of Tony Blair’s main adviser is profiting from being a key player in the development of Libya’s lucrative tourist industry.
No connection obviously with the fact that Teflon signed a controversial co-operation agreement with Col Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, that opened trade links for British firms only 3 months earlier.
It’s also seemingly pure coincidence to link the money that Tony Blair Associates and Lord Powell’s company seem to be raking in from the Middle East is in any way associated with Tone’s role as Middle East ‘peace’ envoy.
Company with links to Tony Blair adviser in Libya tourism deal.
Tony Blair’s record as ‘Quartet’ envoy displays distinct lack of substance
Nov 7th
This piece by Michael Glackin in the Lebanon Daily Star is so good I’ve published it in full to preserve it.
During a trip to Nablus earlier this year, Tony Blair insisted that improving conditions for Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank was proof that a Palestinian state can be “built from the bottom up while it’s being negotiated from the top down.†Blair was referring to the removal of three Israeli checkpoints around the city. It was a typical snappy, political sound-bite of the kind Blair, special envoy for the Middle East “Quartet†– the United States, Russia, the European Union and United Nations – excels in. Remember the one about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction “which could be activated within 45 minutes?â€
Unfortunately, like the sound-bite he used to win support for the invasion of Iraq, Blair’s comments in Nablus were untrue.
Firstly there are currently no meaningful “top down†negotiations between the governments of the Palestinian Authority and Israel, nor indeed anyone else it seems. Secondly, the “bottom up†improvements that Blair was extolling, the easing of restrictions at Israeli checkpoints, only exist in a handful of places and are seen by many Palestinians as a sop for the lack of meaningful political progress to improve their plight.
These small improvements in the everyday lives of people shouldn’t be overlooked of course, but in reality they are not much to show for more than two years in his role as Quartet envoy and hardly evidence that Blair is slowly laying the economic foundations of a viable Palestinian state. This year Israel has removed 11 checkpoints, but according to the UN there are still more than 600 checkpoints and unmanned barriers choking the free movement of goods and people throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
So what exactly has Blair achieved during his two years as Quartet envoy?
Read the rest of this entry »
Forget Teflon Tony, now it’s Tesco Tony!
Nov 3rd
It has been reported that ol’ Bambi may have been using his position as ‘Meddling’ East peace advisor to help him wangle a quick million on the side from Tescos. If true this surely must help him in his quest to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of Palestinians.
Forget the relentless seige, the indiscriminate bombings and the illegal settlment building. They could easily get over their water crisis by letting Bliar ‘facilitate’ the building of a couple of Tesco Metros.
Of course the downside would be that it would be easier to smuggle arms through the Israeli blockade, simply by placing them in a blue stripey bag.
