THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money entertaining a host of Britain's leading television celebrities at Chequers during his last 15 months in power, it emerged last night.
The guest list included everyone from Charlotte Church, the singer and Channel Four presenter, and her Welsh rugby-playing partner Gavin Henson, to Tess Daly, the co-presenter of BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing, and her husband Vernon Kay, who is also a TV presenter. Other famous names included Lorraine Kelly and Fiona Phillips from GMTV, as well as Chris Evans, the BBC Radio 2 DJ.
Richard Madeley, one half of the Richard & Judy show, dined with the Blairs, as did June Sarpong, the youth television presenter. Steve McClaren, the England football manager, and his wife Kathryn, were also invited to Chequers, as was Match of the Day 2 presenter Adrian Chiles.
The Blairs' guests also included a number of leading figures from the world of business, including Indra Nooyi, the chief executive of PepsiCo, and James Dyson, the vacuum cleaner tycoon.
The former prime minister even found room round his dinner table for church leaders such as Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.
Mr Blair also managed to spend more than £1.6 million on foreign travel between April 2006 and March this year, including five separate trips that cost more than £150,000 each. Blairs turned Chequers into court of celebrities (more) By Graeme Wilson
Mark Alexander
