Lean, mean, money-making machine

The Mail has two articles that show how Tony Blair is making money, greedy hand over grasping fist. The first records his 2003 plea to, then Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon "to let a British Gas-led consortium start work in a vast natural gas field off the coast of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, a deal worth at least £4billion." The Mail is keen to tell us that "There is no suggestion that Blair has ever derived personal benefits improperly."

The Mail does report that:

"Opposition MPs said his simultaneous pursuit of business and peace ought to disqualify him from the job he covets - a return to the world political stage as the first EU President.

'No Prime Minister in modern times would have dreamt of exploiting his position in the way Mr Blair appears to have done,' said David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor, said Blair's dual role was 'extremely inappropriate' because the Arab rulers with whom he is doing business all exert influence on the peace process where he is meant to be an honest broker."

Do read the whole of that Mail article, it is a real eye-opener.

Now read this Mail article about another of Tony Blair's business interests:

"Tony Blair has been in talks with Tesco about helping them open supermarkets in the Middle East - allegedly in return for up to £1million.

It is believed the discussions between the former Prime Minister, now a peace envoy to the region, and the supermarket chain, whose slogan is 'Every little helps', ended after the two sides failed to agree terms."

The bit of the article that I found interesting was this:

"The sensitivity of the issue was underlined by the way Mr Blair responded when The Mail on Sunday contacted his office to discuss the matter at 2pm on Friday. His spokesman took more than 24 hours to reply, despite repeated requests by telephone and email.

Eventually, at 5pm yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Blair issued a carefully worded statement that said: 'Tesco is a great British company. However, Tony Blair and Tony Blair Associates have never done any work on behalf of Tesco.

'Tony Blair does not have any commercial relationship with Tesco and has not made any representations on their behalf.

'The vast majority of Mr Blair's time is taken up by his unpaid activities, principally his role as Quartet Representative [for the United Nations, European Union, Russia and United States] in the Middle East, advocating on issues such as climate change and Africa and with the work of his faith and sports foundations.'"

Read the 'carefully worded statement' a few times; isn't it well done? As The Mail reports:

"Asked if Mr Blair had been in talks with Tesco about representing them in the Middle East, the spokesman declined to comment, nor would he answer questions about whether the sum of £1million had been discussed.

Sources close to Mr Blair insisted the talks did not break down over the issue of money but would not explain why they failed. Another senior source suggested that the talks between Mr Blair and Tesco had been going on for five months."

Money, what is it good for? In Tony Blair's book the answer is clearly not 'nothing'.