KUWAIT
Blair has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the Emir of Kuwait. He held talks with Sheikh al-Sabah in May 2003, just weeks after Saddam Hussein was deposed.
Three months after his Kuwait visit this year, on May 24, Blair — in his role as peace envoy — was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), meeting the education minister. On the same day, he walked into another meeting with the UAE finance minister, representing JP Morgan, the US investment bank, as an adviser. The bank refused to comment on the meeting last week.
Blair is now a regular visitor to Abu Dhabi, typically staying in a £1,500-a-night double suite at the Emirates Palace. The hotel — the most costly ever built — is decked out with acres of gold leaf and renowned for offering guests the chance to consume real gold flakes; scattered on cappuccinos and cakes it can be ingested harmlessly. Guests are said to consume about 13lb of gold each year.
Blair enjoys cordial relations with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince, who was educated at Sandhurst and who is a Ju- Jitsu expert. He held talks with the Crown Prince on his December 2006 prime ministerial tour of the Middle East.
Blair has praised the UAE for helping the Palestinians with millions of pounds for community projects. The country is also on TBA’s secret client list. Sheikh Mohammed’s state investment fund, Mubadala, is understood to have put TBA on its payroll three months ago.
Mubadala’s interests include oil and gas exploration contracts in Libya, a partnership with EADS, the European defence group and a stake in Ferrari.
John McGaw, a senior adviser at Golden Oryx, a business development company in the UAE, said: “[Blair] has a fantastic network, which is still sort of warm from his former days. He lends global credibility to one of the top sovereign wealth funds.”
One of Mubadala’s subsidiaries is building Masdar City, a zero-carbon development that will be powered by solar energy. Blair supported the successful bid for the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) to be based in the city.
On September 3, Blair was once again in Abu Dhabi, giving a speech before the crown prince and other dignitaries on the opportunities of globalisation. His talk — ranging from the Palestinian issue to the profits from globalisation — illustrates how he deftly blends his unpaid role in the Middle East with opportunities to showcase the political and business talent that is available for hire.
Blair has praised the UAE for helping the Palestinians with millions of pounds for community projects. The country is also on TBA’s secret client list. Sheikh Mohammed’s state investment fund, Mubadala, is understood to have put TBA on its payroll three months ago.
Mubadala’s interests include oil and gas exploration contracts in Libya, a partnership with EADS, the European defence group and a stake in Ferrari.
John McGaw, a senior adviser at Golden Oryx, a business development company in the UAE, said: “[Blair] has a fantastic network, which is still sort of warm from his former days. He lends global credibility to one of the top sovereign wealth funds.”
One of Mubadala’s subsidiaries is building Masdar City, a zero-carbon development that will be powered by solar energy. Blair supported the successful bid for the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) to be based in the city.
On September 3, Blair was once again in Abu Dhabi, giving a speech before the crown prince and other dignitaries on the opportunities of globalisation. His talk — ranging from the Palestinian issue to the profits from globalisation — illustrates how he deftly blends his unpaid role in the Middle East with opportunities to showcase the political and business talent that is available for hire.
Blair has praised the UAE for helping the Palestinians with millions of pounds for community projects. The country is also on TBA’s secret client list. Sheikh Mohammed’s state investment fund, Mubadala, is understood to have put TBA on its payroll three months ago.
Mubadala’s interests include oil and gas exploration contracts in Libya, a partnership with EADS, the European defence group and a stake in Ferrari.
John McGaw, a senior adviser at Golden Oryx, a business development company in the UAE, said: “[Blair] has a fantastic network, which is still sort of warm from his former days. He lends global credibility to one of the top sovereign wealth funds.”
One of Mubadala’s subsidiaries is building Masdar City, a zero-carbon development that will be powered by solar energy. Blair supported the successful bid for the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) to be based in the city.
On September 3, Blair was once again in Abu Dhabi, giving a speech before the crown prince and other dignitaries on the opportunities of globalisation. His talk — ranging from the Palestinian issue to the profits from globalisation — illustrates how he deftly blends his unpaid role in the Middle East with opportunities to showcase the political and business talent that is available for hire.
While TBA may guarantee Blair’s financial security, he risks, like Kissinger, ruling himself out of future public service as the client list expands.
Kissinger was appointed in 2002 to chair an inquiry into intelligence failures before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but came under pressure to reveal the clients of Kissinger Associates. He subsequently stood down, citing a controversy over a conflict of interest.
PRESSURE
Blair himself will come under pressure to disclose the client list of TBA if he becomes European Union president, even if he removes himself from the partnership’s day-to-day business.
MPs also believe his work already undermines his role of peace envoy in the Middle East. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman, said: “The role of peace envoy, the office of which is subsidised by the taxpayer, is not meant to be an opportunity to look for new business opportunities for Tony Blair Associates.”
Blair’s spokesman said it was “absolute nonsense” to suggest that Blair was using contacts from the Iraq conflict or his work as peace envoy for business purposes. He said Blair had known the Emir of Kuwait since 1995.
He said TBA work did not represent a conflict of interest with his peace role. Kingdom Holding Company was not a TBA client and paid consultancy work with Kuwait had been completed, he said. “Tony Blair is in high demand for his advice and analysis in geopolitics,” the spokesman said
“However, the vast majority of his time is spent on his unpaid activities, principally his role as quartet representative.”
VOTERS AGAINST EU TREATY
The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, has called for a national referendum on the Lisbon treaty as it emerged in a survey that Britain would vote more than two-to-one against.
In a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, 41% of respondents said they would vote against the treaty in a referendum, with 18% in favour; 41% were undecided.
An equal proportion of the population — 38% — were for and against Tony Blair becoming president of the European Union.
Klaus’s intervention on a referendum came in an open letter addressed to the Czech constitutional court. He has so far refused to sign the treaty, which has been ratified by all other EU members.
THE HOUSES THAT TONY BOUGHT
South Pavilion, Buckinghamshire
Purchase price: £4m
A seven-bedroom mansion bought in 2008. The mansion, once owned by Sir John Gielgud, is a few miles from Chequers, the prime ministerial retreat.
Connaught Square, London
Purchase price: £3.65m
A five-storey grade II listed Georgian townhouse bought in September 2004. The house is now the Blairs’ main London residence.
Archery Close, London
Purchase price: £800,000 (estimated)
A mews house bought in February 2007. The intention was to improve the security of the Blairs’ main London residence.
Myrobella, Co Durham
Purchase price: £30,000
A four-bedroomed home bought in 1983 after Blair was elected as MP for Sedgefield.
Now for sale for £300,000.
Townhouse, London.
Purchase price: £1.13m
Mews property bought in September this year with no mortgage.
The house — with three bathroooms and a sun terrace — is owned by Cherie Blair and her son Nicky.
The Panoramic, Bristol
Purchase Price: £525,000
Two flats bought for £260,000 and £265,000 in 2002. Peter Foster, a conman, helped with the purchase.
Source: http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1550/1/
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Blair has been working pro bono in the Middle East as a peace envoy while amassing a fortune from the American lecture circuit. By offering himself to the Arab states as a statesman for hire, he could comfortably double his annual earnings.