Tony Blair criticises coalition prison policies

Former prime minister Tony Blair has criticised the prison policies being pursued by the coalition government ...

... in an interview with the Telegraph, Mr Blair said there was a need to imprison "those who deserve to be there".

The former prime minister said "dysfunctional families who produce 14-year-old kids stabbing one another to death" are "making people's lives hell" and suggested Britain could learn from developing countries which "just don't accept" criminality ...

BBC NEWS  06 Sept 2010    Prison_Probation

Blair should take responsibility for Iraq. But he won't. He can't

Having conquered Saddam, he wants to conquer Ahmadinejad.

"I am saying that it is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons capability," he told poor old Andrew Marr.

It was necessary for the Iranians," quoth he, "to get that message, loud and clear."

Thus did our Middle East peace envoy prepare us for war with Persia.

But I rather fear the Iranians got his "message" a long time ago: if you want to avoid threats from the likes of Lord Blair, you'd better buy a bomb pdq ...

Sometimes, Blair sounded like the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

He and his Israeli boss believe Ahmadinejad is worse than Hitler – which takes some doing – and Lord Blair, as we know, is no appeaser.

Oddly, however – since he's supposed to be our peacemaker between the two sides – "Israel" and "Palestine" were two words that went totally unmentioned, even though Blair blurted out to the Chilcot inquiry that there had been "phone calls" with Israelis during his decision-making conference with Bush over Iraq.

Marr missed out there. What on earth were Blair and Bush talking to the Israelis about as they prepared to take us into this catastrophe? ...

Independent  03 Sept 2010    Iran    Israel    War on Terror

Iran ... a strategy for regional dominance

Should Tony Blair step down from the Middle East Quartet?

Tony Blair, in last night’s interview with Andrew Marr [UK], whilst trying to deflect criticism on the legality of the Iraq war said “we are about to face, in respect of Iran a very similar type of decision.”

No, we’re not. As Marc Lynch, amongst others has argued:

•a military strike is not likely to put an end to Iran’s nuclear potential, or to provide any significant sense of certainty (I do not find Goldberg’s notion of Israeli commandos quickly darting in from Iraqi Kurdistan to check things out especially reassuring).

•the idea Israel has a fixed deadline is not credible. Israeli officials and American Iran hawks have paraded a never-ending series of such immutable deadlines over the last decade — of 2006, of 2007, of 2008, and now of December 2010. None proved quite so immutable.

Blair drew clear red lines around the possibility of a nuclear Iran, on which the following exchange took place:

Marr: But what can we do about it?

Blair: And, um, and um I think we’ve got to be prepared to confront them, er

Marr: Militarily?

Blair: If necessarily militarily

Marr: Militarily?

Blair: If necessary militarily. I – I think there is no alternative to that um if they continue to develop nuclear weapons and and they need to get that message loud and clear.

randomvariable.co.uk  02 Sept 2010    Iran    War on Terror

Iran ... a strategy for regional dominance

Andrew Marr interviews Tony Blair

Master Manipulator

Blair: world leaders need to take urgent action over Iran

Tony Blair accused of putting war with Iran on the electoral agenda

Blair: Iran now a bigger threat than in 2003

Israeli settlers to resume building on West Bank after Hebron killings

West Bank settlers to defy freeze on construction, putting further strain on contentious issue in this week's peace talks ...

West Bank settlers have pledged to resume building from 6pm tonight, in defiance of the Israeli government's freeze on construction and in direct response to last night's killing of four people by Hamas gunmen.

The shooting of the settlers near the volatile West Bank city of Hebron drew condemnation from all parties involved in negotiations that are due to begin in Washington today.

The response of settlement leaders could further strain an already contentious issue which is threatening to overshadow this week's talks.

The partial and temporary settlement-building freeze reluctantly conceded by the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, last November is due to end on 26 September.

The Palestinians are pressing for an extension, which is being strongly resisted by Netanyahu's rightwing coalition partners.

Naftali Bennett, director of the Yesha Council, which represents settlers in the West Bank, said in a statement:

"This brutal attack again proved that despite what might be going on in Washington right now, the Palestinians have no goal to create a peaceful state for themselves but are entirely driven to destroy our state and our people.

"The only response that will show our resolve against terror is to commit ourselves to building and, effective Wednesday evening, we will bring this senseless freeze to an immediate end … We will respond in the way that we know best – by building and strengthening our nation." ...

Tony Blair, the Middle East Quartet representative, said: "We must not allow extremists to derail the process." ...

Guardian  01 Sept 2010    Israel    Eyeless in Gaza

Israeli Settlement Construction Booms Despite Ban

Do Peace Talks in Washington Stand a Chance of Success?

Tony Blair

Tony Blair: A true friend of Israel

Tony Blair's prescription for economy rejected by Labour candidates

Tory Blair - Q.E.D.

David and Ed Miliband distance themselves from former PM's statement of support for coalition's deficit strategy ...

Blair shook the party with his backing of David Cameron and George Osborne's economic strategy to cut the financial deficit.

Blair also backed the government's decision to raise VAT ...

"If governments don't tackle deficits, the bill is footed by taxpayers, who fear that big deficits mean big taxes, both of which reduce confidence, investment and purchasing power," Blair wrote, in sharp criticism of Brown.

"We should have taken a New Labour way out of the economic crisis: kept direct taxes competitive, had a gradual rise in VAT and other indirect taxes to close the deficit, and used the crisis to push further and faster on reform." ...

Guardian  01 Sept 2010    Renewing Labour

Ed Balls attacks Tony Blair over deficit claims in memoirs

Tony Blair endorses our economic policies, claim Tories

Iraqi Leaders Fear for Future

An elite "that the Americans helped to choose" ... in a word: 'Quislings'

Iraq’s political elite, empowered by the American invasion and entrusted with the country’s future, has begun to deliver a damning critique of itself, a grim harbinger for a country rife with fears of more crises, conflicts and even coups as the American military withdraws ... the failure of the elite that the United States helped to choose may serve as a lasting American legacy here, raising fundamental questions about the body politic it leaves behind as the American military departs by 2012 ...

Between a flurry of meetings, another leading politician called his colleagues ineffective, overly impressed with the trappings of power and so greedy as to “border on being kleptocrats.”

He added, “They put the immediate above the important and tactical issues above strategic matters.”

He was reluctant to speak on the record; to do so might upset potential allies.

“The same people, coming and going,” lamented Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker who served on the American-appointed Governing Council in 2003. “If someone died, he’s no longer around, but that’s it.”

As he spoke, his generator failed, plunging his house into the claustrophobic heat of a Baghdad summer.

For a few hours, he suffered as does much of the rest of Baghdad, where electricity lasts for but a few hours, water is sometimes contaminated, trash piles up in the streets and the infrastructure is crumbling ...

NYT  17 Aug 2010    War on Terror

Questions over size of Tony Blair's book royalty donation to Royal British Legion

The gesture will mean as much as £5 million is paid to the charity, it was widely suggested.

It will help pay for rehabilitation facilities for seriously injured Services personnel.

But Mr Blair’s office failed to answer a series of questions about how much money is involved ...

It has been widely reported that Mr Blair received an advance of more than £4 million from his publishers.

Global sales of his memoirs will generate hundreds of thousands of pounds more.

It is not clear whether the offer to the charity includes the advance or whether the donation will simply be “proceeds” accumulated on top of the advance, which is usually repaid to the publisher.

There are also questions over whether the eventual profits will be donated before they are taxed and whether the entire donation will be set against the tax liabilities of the complex web of companies and trusts involved in Mr Blair’s finances ...

Telegraph  16 Aug 2010    

It is blood money. Anyone who buys the book is just encouraging him

Image makers have planned every last detail of book launch

Blair pledges book proceeds to Royal British Legion

Yours for £150: Tony Blair's memoirs as gospel

High security for Tony Blair book signing

Will Lord Mandelson be at the head of the queue?

... the former prime minister will be meeting his public at Waterstone's in Piccadilly, London, on 8 September.

But Blair fans will have to comply with a number of strict conditions before being allowed near the great man:

Customers cannot be photographed with Blair, there will be no personal dedications, and all bags, backpacks and briefcases must be checked in, along with cameras and mobile phones, before meeting the former Labour leader. Blair will sign a maximum of two books per customer.

In addition, those wanting to have their book signed must show proof they bought it from Waterstone's that morning. They will then receive a wristband, although, as the Bookseller points out, this "does not guarantee Blair will sign the customer's book". Ouch.

Guardian  11 Aug 2010    Tony Blair    

A Benchmark of Progress, Electrical Grid Fails Iraqis

If you seek Blair's monument, look around Iraq

From the beginning of the war more than seven years ago, the state of electricity has been one of the most closely watched benchmarks of Iraq’s progress, and of the American effort to transform a dictatorship into a democracy.

And yet, as the American combat mission — Operation Iraqi Freedom, in the Pentagon’s argot — officially ends this month, Iraq’s government still struggles to provide one of the most basic services ...

Iraq now has elections, a functioning, if imperfect, army and an oil industry on the cusp of a potential boom.

Yet Baghdad, the capital, had five hours of electricity a day in July.

The chronic power shortages are the result of myriad factors, including war, drought and corruption, but ultimately they reflect a dysfunctional government that remains deadlocked and unresponsive to popular will ...

Before Mr. Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait 20 years ago this month, Iraq had the capacity to produce 9,295 megawatts of power.

By 2003, after American bombings and years of international sanctions, it was half that.

The shortages since have hobbled economic development and disrupted almost every aspect of daily life ...

NYT  01 August 2010    A Violent Aggressive Culture    War on Terror

The US isn't leaving Iraq, it's rebranding the occupation

Asbos: Tarnished emblem of Labour crime policy

Antisocial behaviour orders were condemned by critics as ineffective and populist ...

In 2008 the Home Office ... revealed that the breach rate for asbos issued up to December 2007 had soared to 61%, and many offenders saw them as a "badge of honour".

Jacqui Smith tried to bury them while she was home secretary and instead urged expanding early intervention programmes. But after the case of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter after years of living under siege from local youths, and in which the police were accused of not taking antisocial behaviour seriously, Gordon Brown tried to breathe new life into the asbo.

His home secretary, Alan Johnson, claimed Labour had been "coasting" on the issue. But his drive appears to have yielded few results.

The latest asbo figures, published today, show that the number issued has continued to fall from the 2005 peak of 4,122 to 2,027 in 2008, the latest figures available.

The home secretary today indicated that she believes the rate has continued to fall since then and breach rates have risen even further, with 40% being broken more than once.

The final scoreline shows that a total of 16,999 orders were issued between April 1999 and December 2008, of which more than 9,300 were ignored.

No wonder May was able to argue today that they did little to rehabilitate offenders and simply criminalised many young people.

Guardian  28 July 2010

Theresa May to scrap asbos

Asbos worked – and Theresa May knows it

Asbos helped make Britain look broken

Respect Action Plan

Blair thought Brown was 'mad, bad and dangerous'

Tony Blair branded Gordon Brown 'beyond redemption' and reneged on deal to stand down after his second term ...

crinklyoldgit 14 Jul 2010, 1:41AM After reading this horrific account of two people caught up in a vicious personal vendetta, almost certainly to the exclusion of their huge responsibilities, does it not look more and more that these putrid examples of our political elite- deciding on the fate of millions-directly in the case of Iraq, should be properly brought to account?

This article describes simple criminal negligance, never mind all the other serious moral, political and legal issues associated with these two.

We need to ask the question: How did two such deeply flawed individuals rise to their respective positions?

They have conspired, and inflicted monumental damage on our country, in undermining the rule of law and our attachment to principles of justice and the democratic processes of representation.

It really is time to start some grass roots movement to bring these people to account properly, for their actions, and to impose some real restrictions and control over the people who are elected on behalf of our country.

How about a two term limit on elected representatives, no comfortable 'house of lords' sinecures, and an end to the power to appoint the people who carry out the investigations (Chilcott, Butler etc).

It is time for parliament to re-assert itself at the very least. Our country really needs to waken up.

Guardian  14 July 2010    Blog    Peter Mandelson

Foreign Office officials 'backed Guantanamo detentions'

Foreign Office officials supported sending British terrorism suspects to Guantanamo Bay, according to documents disclosed in the High Court ...

Tim Otty QC ... told the court that an additional document ... raised questions about Downing Street's involvement in the case of Martin Mubanga ...

Mr Mubanga was arrested in Zambia in 2002 before being taken by US forces to Guantanamo Bay, where he was held for three years.

Mr Otty said: "The PM's office is apparently countermanding a desire of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to intervene on behalf of Mr Mubanga in circumstances where it could have led to his release."

Last week Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to the six former detainees to enter mediation talks, rather than drag the case through the courts.

That offer came as part of his announcement to the House of Commons of a judge-led inquiry into allegations of complicity in torture and extraordinary rendition.

The government has now formally asked the High Court to suspend the men's legal action, saying they hoped the six would enter talks by mid-October.

But lawyers for the men - Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Binyam Mohamed and Mr Mubanga - say they will resist settlement talks until they discover more of what the government knew.

BBC NEWS  14 July 2010    Torture

Classified documents reveal UK's role in abuse of its own citizens

Torture inquiry: Tony Blair under pressure to testify

Nicola Duckworth, of Amnesty International, described the prime minister's announcement as "an important first step", but added: "It is not clear the inquiry will have sufficient authority and independence from the executive to ensure the full truth about the UK's involvement in human rights abuses can emerge."

Guardian  07 July 2010

Torture

Iraq deaths in British custody could see military face legal challenges

MoD faces judicial inquiries as the Guardian raises questions over seven Iraqis who died while being held by UK troops ...

In seven cases raised by the Guardian, the MoD is refusing to explain why the individuals were detained, or say where, how or why they died.

Officials have refused even to disclose whether or not the deaths were investigated.

Next week, lawyers representing 102 Iraqi civilians will seek a judicial review of the MoD's refusal to hold a public inquiry into all cases of abuse of Iraqi civilians after the March 2003 invasion ...

Guardian  01 July 2010    Chilcott Inquiry    Torture

Ministers warned Blair over Iraq

How Goldsmith changed advice on legality of war

Tony Blair rakes in another $100,000 as he is awarded 2010 Liberty Medal by Bill Clinton

Tony Blair is to receive a medal and £67,000 cash for bringing 'liberty' to the world ...

The former prime minister was named yesterday as the 2010 recipient of the annual Liberty Award in the U.S. He will be presented with the medal by former president Bill Clinton on September 13.

Previous recipients of the prize include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former South African president Nelson Mandela and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.

Mr Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, is thought to have raked in at least £20million since leaving Downing Street in June 2007, although some observers believe the true figure could be as high as £30million.

In recent months it has emerged that his deals included a lucrative contract to advise South Korean oil firm UI Energy Corporation, which has extensive interests in Iraq.

He also has a £1million deal to advise the royal family of neighbouring Kuwait.

The deals date from 2008 but became public only in March after Mr Blair lost a two-year battle to keep them secret.

He told the advisory committee that the deal with the oil firm had to be kept secret because of 'market sensitivities', although his office insists this was at the request of the Korean firm.

The deals emerged when The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments decided to ignore Mr Blair's objections and publish the details.

The committee confirmed Mr Blair's future earnings are outside its remit as he has been out of office for more than two years.

That rule, which applies to all ex-ministers, means there will be no requirement for him to give any details of jobs he has landed as a result of contacts gained during his time in Downing Street.

Mr Blair also gives lectures and can earn up to $250,000 for a 90-minute speech ...

Daily Mail  01 July 2010    

Tony Blair lands job with Silicon Valley's Khosla Ventures

Former prime minister to bring his 'global relationships' to venture capital firm ...

Guardian  25 May 2010

Blair under pressure to explain ... taxes

Tony Blair was facing questions last night over whether he was planning to avoid paying taxes in Britain on his growing wealth ..

The former prime minister is thought to be earning tens of millions of pounds a year from advising foreign investors and making lucrative speeches.

Several of his "corporate entities" do not have to publish full accounts and do not disclose where their money comes from or where it ends up ...

Last night, the Conservatives published a dossier that showed that some of Mr Blair’s companies, called Firerush Ventures, have received "permission" to operate in tax havens including Gibraltar and Lithuania ...

The spokesman for Mr Blair, who reportedly received a £4.6 million advance for his memoirs, entitled The Journey, said the former prime minister was a "UK resident taxpayer" and that his companies paid corporation tax in Britain.

Telegraph  30 Mar 2010

Why I need £5m every year just to get by

Tony Blair takes a swipe at changeable Conservatives

Tony Blair rallies Labour

More reunion than rally

Brown's leadership led us out of economic peril

Blair to rally Labour supporters

Blair praises Brown and Darling

Tony Blair to play key general election role

The former prime minister is to play a key role in Labour's election campaign with a brief to target David Cameron's "failure" to modernise the Conservatives ...

As the Conservatives prepare a new pre-election poster campaign aimed at warning Britain of the danger of another five years of Mr Brown, Labour are to hit back by deploying the man who led them to three successive election victories.

Mr Blair is not expected to go "out on the stump" during the election campaign but he is expected to make at least one major speech and give at least one interview in the run up to polling day in which he will attack Mr Cameron – although the precise details are still being worked out.

A friend said: "Tony knows what it means to change a party and he will say that the Conservatives have not changed. He will say that David Cameron might have done a superficial PR job but there is no real change. The policies are the same." ...

Telegraph  20 Mar 2010

Blair was 'cleared to take oil job'

Tony Blair was cleared by a vetting panel before carrying out work for an oil giant and did not keep it secret, the former PM's office has said.

It emerged this week that Mr Blair had been paid for advising the UI Energy Corporation, a South Korean oil firm with interests in Iraq and the US.

The details were released by a panel which vets jobs taken by ministers ...

Douglas Carswell ... told the Daily Mail:

"It seems that the former prime minister of the United Kingdom has been in the pay of a very big foreign oil corporation and we have been kept in the dark about it.

"Even now we do not know what he was paid or what the company got out of it. We need that information now.

"This is revolving door politics at its worst. It's not as if Mr Blair has even stepped back from politics, because he is still politically active in the Middle East.

"I'm afraid I have no confidence at all in the committee that vets these appointments. It's no good telling us these deals may be commercially sensitive - we are talking about the appointment of our former prime minister and the public interest, rather than any commercial interests, must come first."

BBC NEWS  19 March 2010

Advisory Committee on Business Appointments

Clare Short: Tony Blair lied and misled parliament in build-up to Iraq war

• Blair 'lied' over war preparations
• Attorney general 'misled' government
• Brown 'marginalised and unhappy'

Declassified letters between Short and Blair released today show she believed that invading Iraq without a second UN resolution would be illegal and there was a significant risk of a humanitarian catastrophe.

She told the inquiry that she had a conversation with Blair in 2002. He told her that he was not planning for war against Iraq and that the evidence has since revealed that he was not telling the truth at that point, she said.

She also said she was "stunned" when she read the 337-word legal advice on the war written by the then-attorney general Lord Goldsmith during a cabinet meeting on 17 March 2003, three days before the war began. She was forbidden by Blair from discussing it during the meeting.

"I said, 'That is extraordinary.' I was jeered at to be quiet. If the prime minister says be quiet there is only so much you can do.

"I think for the attorney general to come and say there's unequivocal legal authority to go to war was misleading."

Short, who was applauded by some audience members in public seats at the end of her evidence, said the ministerial code was broken as cabinet colleagues were not aware of Goldsmith's modifications to his legal advice over the previous weeks ...

Guardian  02 Feb 2010

Short shrift for Blair at Chilcot

Tony Blair 'leaned on Lord Goldsmith'

Blair deceived Parliament over grounds for war

Gordon Brown ‘had no input’ over decision on Iraq

Tony Blair at the Chilcot inquiry

Not only did he refuse to give an inch on every angle of the war – nothing wrong with the grounds for the invasion, the planning of it, its legality, the decision-making process or the conduct of its aftermath – he also went on the counter-offensive, challenging his critics.

This he called the 2010 question: where would Saddam be now if no action had been taken? Wouldn't he represent an even greater threat today than he did then?

(To which the answer is surely that the 2003 invasion exposed Saddam and his ragtag army as a toothless tiger, whose rusting arsenal would be even more useless seven years on than it was then.)

Not content with that, Blair pushed further, apparently touting a new war in the Persian Gulf, this time against Iraq's neighbour, Iran. All day Blair used his platform to bring up Iran, even when it was only tangentially related to the topic in hand.

The arguments that applied in 2002 – about WMD falling into terrorist hands – applied in spades to Iran in 2010, he said.

Blair clearly doesn't realise that the fastest way to taint any planned military action against Iran is to associate it with the catastrophe of Iraq. But he is convinced that he can see what others cannot, that he is a latter-day Winston Churchill, crying out a warning that others refuse to heed. He thinks history will vindicate him – crediting him for seeing the menace of Saddam and Iran when others refused to listen ...

Guardian  29 Jan 2010

Blair v Chilcot. No contest: we and the truth are the losers

Blair’s world view: simply goodies v baddies

Blair attacked over Iran stance

Tony Blair: world leaders need to take urgent action over Iran

Chilcot inquiry member Sir Martin Gilbert praises Gordon Brown

Attorney-General in briar patch con shock

Tony Blair's Iraq letters to stay secret

Britain and genocide

Tony Blair to be paid thousands by hedge fund which profited from banking crisis

Mr Blair will give private talks to Lansdowne Partners, a London-based fund which made millions by betting on the collapse of Britain’s banks in the credit crunch ...

The talks were arranged by the US agency that handles Mr Blair’s lucrative speaking engagements, typically charging more than £100,000 for a single speech.

Paul Ruddock, a co-founder of Lansdowne, has donated more than £250,000 to the Conservatives in recent years.

In 2008, the firm profited by betting that the prices of shares in banks including HBOS and Barclays would fall.

It is estimated that the firm made more than £12 million by short-selling British bank shares ...

Telegraph  26 Jan 2010

Iraq Inquiry: security bill for Blair's appearance 'up to £250,000'

Tony Blair says it is not true that nobody likes him.

He insists he is very popular - especially abroad.

The former prime minister defended the huge amounts he has made since leaving office ...

Mr Blair ... is using a loophole in company law to shield his earnings from public view ...

In an interview, Mr Blair said his negative image in Britain was entirely down to journalists rather than any failings on his part ...

Papers lodged with the U.S. tax authority show the Tony Blair Faith Foundation received more than $1.1million (£680,000) in 2008 although he put in just 50 hours' work.

It spent $42,885 on travel expenses, including the cost of Mr Blair and his entourage flying to Yale University, where he delivers seminars on religion ten times a year.

The purpose of the foundation, according to the tax return, is to 'promote mutual respect, tolerance, friendship and understanding between the major religious faiths and to make the case for faith itself as a relevant, positive and benign force for good in the modern world'.

Yesterday, Mr Blair's biographer Anthony Seldon called on him to apologise for his errors over the Iraq war ...

Daily Mail  21 Dec 2009

Tony Blair faces accusations of hypocrisy after he used a private jet to fly to Copenhagen to preach about the dangers of carbon emissions.

The former PM travelled to the summit last Sunday where he warned that a failure to change human behaviour was 'grossly irresponsible'.

But he flew on a private jet, generating a carbon footprint at least six times larger than if he had taken a scheduled flight ...

On the day that Mr Blair travelled, there were 18 commercial flights to Copenhagen from London ...

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: 'All his and his staff's carbon emissions from flights are offset.'

MoS  20 Dec 2009

Are carbon offsetters taking us for a ride?

Carbon offset schemes not working

Climate change fight 'can't wait'

Blair's Climate Ditherfest

So, as the job of European President apparently recedes from Tony Blair's grasp, should we feel sorry for our former prime minister, sitting at home watching his dreams of returning to the world stage turn to ashes?

Perhaps not. In fact, there is every reason to believe that Mr Blair might be rather relieved if he doesn't have to go to Brussels, because taking the job would have meant renouncing his current role as a one-man multinational money-making machine.

At a conservative estimate, he has made £15million from his commercial activities since stepping down as prime minister in 2007, and there is every sign that his earning capacity is increasing.

He remains in demand as a £100,000-a-time international speaker, he has contracts to provide advice with several banking institutions, he is writing his memoirs, and he has established Tony Blair Associates (TBA) to provide advice to foreign governments for money.

There is nothing wrong with all this - except that he is pursuing his commercial interests so closely in tandem with his charitable work and job as an envoy to the Middle East that it is hard to see where the not-for-profit element ends and his own personal bank account begins.

As a friend told the Financial Times, 'if Mr Blair emerged from a meeting with an Arab emir having won a donation to the Palestinians, a donation to the Tony Blair faith foundation, and a consultancy fee, that would be a "good trip".'

And so far this year, he's been to more than 20 countries.

All of this activity is masterminded by an astonishing 80 staff, all working from a splendid suite in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, conveniently located near to the American embassy ...

Daily Mail  31 October 2009

... despite the momentum his unannounced candidacy has already generated, not everyone is pleased and the prospect of a President Blair -- neither on the Continent nor in Britain itself.

For one, Blair is from one of the largest European Union countries, a fact which will not endear him to smaller EU member states.

When the position was created, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told the Financial Times Deutschland, there was "an informal understanding that the first EU president wouldn't come from one of the bigger countries."

Plus, as EU-enthusiasts are happy to point out, Blair comes from one of the most Euro-skeptic countries in the 27-member club.

Britain is neither a member of the single-currency euro-zone nor is it part of the Schengen Agreement, which guarantees border-free travel through much of Europe. Furthermore, Blair fought tooth and nail to retain the British Rebate, an EU budget kickback given annually to the UK because the country benefits relatively little from EU agricultural subsidies.

Juncker argued that the EU president needs more of a "European profile." It is an argument that has a following in Germany as well.

Finally, Blair discredited himself in the eyes of many Europeans by throwing his support, and troops, behind the American invasion of Iraq.

Someone who misled the public about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq should not be allowed to speak for the EU, said one German diplomat, who asked not to be identified ...

Blair's greatest trump card is that he is a star on the world stage. Others, such as Balkenende, Gonzales or the ex-Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, would be in danger of being seen as lightweights -- Blair would never seem out of place next to US President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The question remains as to whether Blair can shake his "Bush's Poodle" image. Even the British appear less than enthusiastic about the prospect of their previous prime minister returning to the front row.

According to a recent poll published by The Times, 53 percent did not want Blair to become EU president, while only 43 were in favor.

Der Spiegel  06 October 2009

The pace of modern life and the restless search for short-term material gain in a globalised economic system constitute a threat both to the planet and to human identity, Tony Blair has warned fellow Catholics.

In a speech to the prestigious Communion and Liberation conference at Rimini in Italy the former prime minister and Middle East Quartet envoy also told people of all faiths around the world that their own conflicts and divisions "allow aggressive secularism in part of the West to gain traction" when the faiths should be united in standing up for justice and solidarity.

"This is surely the role of faith in modern times. To do what it alone can do. To achieve what neither a person, nor a state, nor a community, on their own or even together, can achieve.

"To represent God's Truth, not limited by human frailty, or by the interests of the state or by the transient mores of a community, however well intentioned; but to let that truth bestow on us humility, love of neighbour, and the true knowledge that indeed passes all understanding."

Blair spoke on a stopover during his family summer holiday in the Mediterranean where he was photographed and – not for the first time – criticised as a guest on Rising Sun, the five-deck yacht of American software billionaire Larry Ellison, anchored off the Sardinian coast ...

Guardian  28 August 2009

Blair's Climate Ditherfest

Tony Blair will today call for immediate action on energy efficiency and a definitive commitment to develop the next generation of the technological revolution needed to get the world started down the low-carbon path ...

Tony Blair said: “This report shows how major reductions even by 2020 are achievable if we focus action on certain key technologies, deploy policies that have been proven to work, and invest now for the development of those future technologies that will take time to mature.

“And these technologies bring economic and social opportunities too. Just as investing in electrification, railways and the internet led to economic growth in the past, investing in clean energy can help reignite the global economy now.

“This report shows that the challenge of combating climate change remains formidable; but it is do-able. This is not mission impossible.

“On the contrary, with the necessary decisions now, there is a credible, practical realistic as we as radical way to act. We can set the world on a new path to a low carbon future; the Major Economies Forum is able to put in place a framework for a successful global accord in Copenhagen in December.”

Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group, which works internationally with business leaders to accelerate a low carbon economy, said:

“Many businesses are already leading the way by investing in innovative and exciting clean technologies – including solar power, electric vehicles and smart buildings – that cut emissions, help growth and create jobs. Politicians must now match this leadership by agreeing challenging targets that provide a clear framework for transformational investment in the low carbon economy.”

The Climate Group 06 July 2009

G8 leaders to set emissions goals

Climate change fight 'can't wait'

Blair's Climate Ditherfest

Tony Blair urged Gordon Brown to hold the independent inquiry into the Iraq war in secret because he feared that he would be subjected to a "show trial" if it were opened to the public, the Observer can reveal ...

The Observer reveals today that six weeks before the war, at a meeting in Washington, the two leaders were forced to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second UN resolution legitimising military action.

Bush told Blair that the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, painted in UN colours, over Iraq with fighter cover". Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes, he would put Iraq in breach of UN resolutions and legitimise military action ...

On his blog, Alastair Campbell, Blair's former spin doctor, says that "on balance" he believes Brown was right to order the inquiry to be held in private. "I can see the arguments for both sides - openness and transparency favours a public inquiry, but it may well be that the inquiry will do a better job freed from the frenzy of 24-hour media."

Observer 21 June 2009

Blair was involved in Iraq inquiry talks

Iraq war inquiry could reveal secrets, lies and the rush to war

The policy, devised in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, offered guidance to MI5 and MI6 officers questioning detainees in Afghanistan whom they knew were being mistreated by the US military.

British intelligence officers were given written instructions that they could not "be seen to condone" torture and that they must not "engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners".

But they were also told they were not under any obligation to intervene to prevent detainees from being mistreated ...

The policy almost certainly breaches international human rights law, according to Philippe Sands QC, one of the world's leading experts in the field, because it takes no account of Britain's obligations to avoid complicity in torture under the UN convention against torture ...

Blair indicated his awareness of the existence of the policy in the middle of 2004, a few weeks after publication of photographs depicting the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq ...

... the discovery that Blair was aware of the secret interrogation policy appears certain to fuel the growing demand for an independent inquiry into aspects of the UK's role in torture and rendition.

So far, those who have called for such an inquiry include the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg; Ken Macdonald, a former director of public prosecutions; Lord Carlile of Berriew, the government's ­ independent reviewer of counter-­terrorism legislation; Lord Howe, who was foreign secretary between 1983 and 1989 in the Thatcher government; and Lord Guthrie, a former chief of defence staff.

Guardian 18 June 2009

Mr Blair, who left Downing Street on June 27, 2007, submitted an invoice on June 25 for "roof repairs" which cost £6,990. The bill was dated June 8, suggesting that Mr Blair arranged for the work to be done after he had announced the date when he would be leaving parliament.

The expense claim - which is one of more than a million documents published online today by parliament - amounts to yet another example of an MP taking the last available opportunity to exploit the system to repair or renovate their designated second home with thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money before leaving office.

Mr Blair's claim was reduced to £4,453 by the fees office, but he was still able to claim £5,772 in the 2007-08 financial year, despite being in office for less than three months.

His expense claims for that year also included £735.81 for council tax - half of his yearly bill of £1,470, despite the fact that he was replaced as MP for Sedgefield on July 19, 2007, meaning he was an MP for just three and a half months of that year.

Other invoices submitted by Mr Blair in 2007-08 included £305.50 for shredding, £466 for cleaning and hundreds of pounds for phone bills and utilities ...

Telegraph 18 June 2009

Tony Blair has appeared to wash his hands of the extraordinary rendition scandal, claiming he was not aware of Britain's involvement under his watch as Prime Minister.

The former premier was yesterday accused of "evasiveness" and failing to ask "awkward questions" when he was in Downing Street about the UK's role in the rendition of two terror suspects in 2004.

Mr Blair, in an interview, failed to condemn the controversial practice, which the British Government denied involvement in until only February this year, by saying: "The Obama government is going to continue [with them] in certain circumstances anyway."

In the July issue of Esquire, Mr Blair also spoke for the first time about the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed, saying people should "wait for the facts" of his case ...

And in February this year, John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Defence, finally admitted that Britain was involved in the rendition of two suspects, who were captured by SAS forces in Iraq and handed over to the US to be sent to Afghanistan.

"First of all, really wait for the facts. I didn't know about those things, incidentally. But my strong advice is: wait for the facts."

What Mr Hutton told the Commons in February "wasn't known by politicians", Mr Blair said, adding: "Look, we could go into a whole debate about renditions, and so on. I think you'll find that the Obama government is going to continue [with them] in certain circumstances anyway. It's only ever journalists who ask me questions about issues like that. It's not an issue [with people] out there." ...

The Independent 31 May 2009

Tony Blair last night received the $1m Dan David prize for leadership at a ceremony at Tel Aviv university, a prize awarded for "achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world." ...

The former prime minister has been envoy to the Quartet of the EU, the US, Russia and the UN, for the past two years, putting him at the heart of negotiations over one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

One of the flagship causes he has championed can be found on the northern edge of the Palestinian city of Jenin, on the occupied West Bank ... It has a large stretch of uninspiring land with a handful of disused warehouses. But this is supposed to become an major new industrial park, an international investment worth millions of dollars and designed to forge peace ...

Guardian 18 May 2009

A leap of faith after Downing Street decade

AMERICAblog News

There is an afterlife: religion does have its uses after all. After you have left office, it gets you to the front of the line of foreigners queuing up to be the first to meet the new President of the United States.

The glee in Blair Central can only be imagined when Tony Blair was invited to open the National Prayer Breakfast. The invitation worked for Barack Obama, because it softens the blow of choosing between Gordon, Angela and Nicolas as the first head of an EU government to shake the presidential hand.

We can be sure that Gordon doesn't see it that way, but because it's faith-based, no one can criticise. Everyone knows that Blair is devout, and we all have to pretend that there's no politics in church.

And because it was in church – or at least, in the Hilton hotel temporarily designated a holy site – there can be no overt references to "Who got there first?" From the British point of view, there can be no discussion of those two iron laws of politics: that a leader holds his or her successor in contempt; and that a successor grows to resent his or her predecessor. Although Charles Clarke blew Blair's saintly cover on the first one this week with his claim that the former Prime Minister wanted to promote him to Foreign Secretary as a rival to Brown.

So yesterday, at 8.43am Washington time, Blair told his mobile phone joke for only the 461st time since he left office.

But he updated it by congratulating President Obama on keeping his BlackBerry. "I had the opposite problem," he said. He got his mobile back only when he left Downing Street, and knew nothing about texting. Not realising he had to identify himself, his first text prompted the reply: "Who are you?" He paused theatrically: "I stood there thinking, "It's only been 24 hours!"

Gordon Brown has kept his mobile, as we discovered last week when it went off during a news conference at Davos.

Yesterday it probably hit the wall.

John Rentoul is Tony Blair's biographer

The Independent 06 February 2009

At last, Blair is free to 'do God'

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will receive the highest civilian award in the US - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - next week.

In his last week in office, President Bush will award the medal to Mr Blair, former Australian PM John Howard and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

All three leaders had been "staunch allies" of the US, particularly against terrorism, said the White House ... ...

A spokesman for Tony Blair said the award reflected "the true courage of the men and women of the British armed forces who, through their service and sacrifice, have safeguarded freedom, democracy and human rights around the globe." ...

Foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said: "Tony Blair should be spending next week helping to fix the mess in Gaza, not receiving an award for the biggest foreign policy disaster in recent history and his silence over Guantanamo Bay."

"It is not surprising that this announcement has been left until after Tony Blair has left office and when George Bush is packing his bags. It is simply too controversial to be sold to voters." ...

BBC NEWS 06 January 2009

Tony Blair and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, will be hosting a meeting of international leaders and experts in January to discuss the global economic crisis, according to the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies.

The former British prime minister and current Middle East envoy used to leave the economy to Gordon Brown. But given the blaze of glory world leaders heaped on Brown at the G20 meeting of world leaders in Washington at the weekend, it seems Blair wants a slice of the action.

Trusted Westminster colleagues caution against seeing this as a snub to Brown. Sarkozy enjoys cordial relations with Brown and Blair but, if you remember, he also backed Blair for EU president.

That job was taken off the table after Ireland failed to sign the necessary EU treaty, but if Ireland was to have a change of heart ... perhaps Blair believes it prudent to keep his hand in.

Guardian 18 November 2008

Norman Kember was interviewed on World Service in the early hours of Sunday morning, May 25 2008. It was a distressing experience - how could it be otherwise?

Throughout the interview I kept thinking about Tony Blair, the insouciance he had displayed from Day One of the Iraq fiasco; the lifestyle he has led since resigning as Prime Minister, and the contrast between two quite different variants of Christianity: Blair's fundamentalist certainty that he was on a 'righteous' crusade, and Kember's more dangerous demonstration of his anti-war beliefs.

You could, of course, argue that Kember's beliefs did not entitle him to rescue by the S.A.S. The Guardian link - below - refers to perceptions in the right-wing press that Kember "lacked gratitude" to those who risked their lives releasing him.

Blair, of course, was never in any danger and, since resigning, he has been able to pose as a peace-maker in the Middle East.

I'm certain which one of these men has the clearer understanding of the Sermon on the Mount.

In November 2005, 74-year-old Christian peace activist Norman Kember was taken hostage in Baghdad by the previously unknown group Swords Of Righteousness Brigade.

BBC World Service's Kidnapped programme met Kember and three of those instrumental in securing his release in March 2006. ...

BBC NEWS 23 May 2008

Tony Blair has called for a drive among people of all faiths to "awaken the world's conscience" over the failure to tackle poverty, illiteracy and poor health in the developing world.

Delivering his first major speech on religion at Westminster Cathedral, the former prime minister, who converted to Catholicism last year, argued that religions of all kinds should be rescued from extremism and irrelevance to help meet a "profound yearning within the human spirit" at a time of unprecedented global turbulence.

He set out plans for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which is designed to forge closer ties between young people of all major religions, as well as promoting the importance of faith in general.

Its first aim, he said, would be to champion the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the targets set by the United Nations for improve conditions in the developing world by 2015. They include halving extreme poverty, providing universal primary education and halting the spread of HIV/Aids. ...

The Independent 04 April 2008

Tony Blair’s mission to save the planet

New details of MPs' expenses released today show that former prime minister Tony Blair claimed £116 to pay for his TV licence, his successor Gordon Brown claimed £2,000 for cleaning and ex-deputy prime minister John Prescott £4,000 for food in the space of a year.

The details were released by Speaker Michael Martin to the BBC after House of Commons authorities decided not to appeal the Information Commissioner's ruling that they were wrong to withhold them.

There is no suggestion that any of the claims were in breach of rules, but they shine another spotlight into the operation of the Westminster allowances system, which has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months.

Today's release is understood to contain a breakdown of how much was claimed by six prominent MPs in the financial year 2003/04 on a range of different items, including stationery, IT equipment, travel for the MP and spouse and groceries. ...

The Independent 04 April 2008

Fresh from his triumphant success at mediating a historic resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict (the Nobel Peace Prize surely has his name on it), Tony Blair is now going to save the world. In the Far East this weekend (if it's Sunday, it must be Japan), the former Prime Minister is calling for a 'global revolution' to tackle climate change.

Er, hold on. When I last looked, the Israel-Palestine conflict remained as unresolved as ever. And yet the Middle East mediator has now added global green crusader to his plump portfolio of retirement jobs.

There's the six-figure salary he draws as an adviser to Zurich Insurance. There's another six, maybe seven, figure salary from JP Morgan Chase. There's the speaking engagements that have him clocking up the airmiles over the Atlantic and across the Pacific.

He greets first-time visitors to his house in Connaught Square by saying: 'How do you like the new gaff?' But the gaffer is not often at his London gaff at the moment. He may even qualify for non-dom status.

There's now no doubt that one reason he left Parliament early was so that he would not have to declare his golden global income on the Register of MPs' Interests.

The former Prime Minister's friends like to stress that his diary is not just packed with opportunities to boost the Blair family fortune.

There's also the unpaid role as an adviser to the government of Rwanda, which reflects the intensity of his interest in Africa, as well as the visiting fellowship at Yale where he will preside over a course on religion and globalisation.

There's his Sports Foundation. And then there's the Inter-Faith Foundation that he will be launching before the summer ...

The Guardian 16 March 2008

Tony Blair is to lead an international campaign to cut carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.

The latest addition to the former Prime Minister’s portfolio of interests has the backing of the White House, the UN and Europe, and Mr Blair is shortly to discuss the plans with the Chinese and Indian Governments.

Just last month it was announced that Mr Blair is to be a part-time adviser to JP Morgan Chase. There is also his work, ten days a month, as envoy for the Quartet of the EU, US, Russia and the UN in the Middle East — and an interfaith foundation to be set up later this year.

Now it has emerged that Mr Blair, whose venture has the support of Gordon Brown, has been working on the climate change project with a group of experts since he left office last summer. He will publish an interim report to the G8 group of industrialised nations in a few months.

He said: “The fact of the matter is that if we do not take substantial action over the next two years, by 2020 we will be thinking seriously about adaptation rather than prevention.”

Backed by The Climate Group, a not-for-profit organisation supported by business, Mr Blair is drawing together an international team. These include Sir Nicholas Stern, the author of the report on the costs of climate change. Specialists from China, Japan, the US and Europe are also on board.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Blair said: “This is extremely urgent. A 50 per cent cut by 2050 has to be a central component of this. We have to try this year to get that agreed, because then you have something for everyone to focus upon. We need a true and proper global deal, and that needs to include America and China.”

He went on: “There is a deadlock. Everyone is agreed where we want to get to but unless you agree on the framework for getting there, you are left with a process and not a result.”

“People often say to me there are lot of climate change plans out there and I say ‘how many of them are politically do-able?”, Mr Blair said. “So the experts are providing technical knowledge and specialist insight but what I am trying to do is guide it politically.”

The Times 14 March 2008

Blair's Climate Ditherfest

The truth is that Blair is being paid to have lunch. Cheek was always his strong suit.

In May last year he furiously denied press reports that he would soon stand down early as MP “to make millions” from memoirs, speaking engagements and boardroom posts.

A month later he stood down and negotiated a reported £5.8m for a book, some £500,000 for speeches and more from consultancies.

This was in addition to a “pension” from the taxpayer of £64,000 a year, which most of us have to await our sixties to draw but a prime minister gets at once in the apparent belief that he cannot earn a normal salary.

Sunday Times 13 January 2008

Questions are being asked about the involvement of Tony Blair and his friend, Lord Leitch.

The former Prime Minister is an environmental adviser to Zurich Financial Services, parent company of Eagle Star, the developer proposing a 12,500-home town in Hampshire.

Eagle Star, which could make up to £1bn from the eco-town proposal at Micheldever Station, is also sponsoring the government's regional seminars on eco-towns. ...

The Observer 10 January 2008

Mr Blair, speaking in his Sedgefield constituency, pleaded with the British people to believe that he acted in good faith, even if they disagreed with him on Iraq, but admitted they would be the judge.

"Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right," he said. "I may have been wrong. That's your call. But believe one thing if nothing else. I did what I thought was right for our country."

The Independent 11 May 2007

Tony Blair has sparked controversy by claiming that people who speak about their religious faith can be viewed by society as "nutters".

The former prime minister's comments came as he admitted for the first time that his faith was "hugely important" in influencing his decisions during his decade in power at Number 10, including going to war with Iraq in 2003 ...

"To do the prime minister's job properly you need to be able to separate yourself from the magnitude of the consequences of the decisions you are taking the whole time. Which doesn't mean to say … that you're insensitive to the magnitude of those consequences or that you don't feel them deeply.

"If you don't have that strength it's difficult to do the job, which is why the job is as much about character and temperament as it is about anything else. But for me having faith was an important part of being able to do that… Ultimately I think you've got to do what you think is right." ...

Telegraph.co.uk 26 November 2007

In early 2001 Blair found himself having to form a relationship with a new and Republican President. From the start he and Bush got on personally.

“A decent guy,” Bush said to me about Blair. “He’s grounded, he loves his family, he’s got good priorities. “To me it’s just easier to deal with a person who believes in some basic fundamentals.”

It was 9/11 that created the political bond. “The moment I saw what was unfolding and realised the scale of it,” Blair told me, “I felt a really deep sense of mission.” It was clear to him immediately, he said, what it was he had to do. ...

The Times 17 November 2007

Lord Blair is going from us. His self-serving memoirs will, of course, remind us of his God-like view of himself ... but I doubt if Chomsky's "foregrounded elements" will save him. A "foregrounded element" was something unusual, a phrase placed in such a way that it warned us of a lie to come.

... I came across one of Blair's lies in my local Beirut paper ... it quoted our dear Prime Minister as saying that he was very angry that a review committee had prevented him from deporting two Algerians home because their government represented a "different political system".

The "foregrounded" element, of course, is the word "different". This is the word that contains the lie. For the reason why the committee declined to return these men to their country was not - as Blair well knew - because Algeria possesses a "different" political system but because the Algerian "system" allows it to torture to death its prisoners. ...

Blair knows that the Algerian security forces rape women to death. He knows this. So how does he dare lie about the "different" political system which allows police officers to rape women? ...

Robert Fisk, The Independent 19 May 2007

a readiness to kill

The precondition for crusading military interventions is a readiness to kill, in support of your own values.

The first air attack of the Iraq war was explicitly intended to kill Saddam Hussein: according to American military sources it did kill Ba'ath party leadership.

The United States and Britain openly declared the Ba'ath party a target: in southern Iraq, British forces attacked local offices of the party.

Later, as British troops secured control of urban areas, members of the party were arrested and interned. Iraqi TV was bombed several times, explicitly because of the content of its broadcasts, which were obviously pro-Saddam. In June 2003, a convoy of cars was attacked, and the occupants killed, simply because Saddam Hussein might have been travelling in it.

All these actions are technically war crimes: soldiers are not supposed to target civilians, regardless of their politics, or what they write or broadcast.

However they reflect the crusading logic of the war: a war of values is inevitably targeted against those with different values.

Blair is a ruthless man, a necessity for crusading leaders.

How many people in Britain would be ready to bomb a Labour Party office, or kill a pro-Blair journalist?

A few IRA dissidents, perhaps, and they would be considered 'hard men' - pathological killers. But historically, the supporters of liberal democracy have been harder than the hardest IRA bombers.

They believe, as Tony Blair obviously does, that their actions are unquestionably and absolutely right. They feel no guilt about killing, for instance, members of a clearly undemocratic party.

Paul Treanor