MAIL ONLINE: The impressive sight of the super-yacht Rising Sun hoving into view around the glamour spots of Europe is always enough to provoke envious glances - even among holidaying oligarchs and international playboys.
Built over five decks, the £150million vessel - the world's second largest privately owned yacht - boasts 82 rooms and an indoor swimming pool, basketball court, dance floor, spa, wine cellar and, of course, helipad.
Little wonder then, that Tony Blair chose to begin his current month-long vacation in one of its lavishly appointed staterooms.
Mr Blair expects only the best. In the past, he has complained - perhaps somewhat churlishly - that those giving him free bed and board have not provided him with accommodation of the absolute highest standard.
Indeed, his friends were flabbergasted when he moaned about a gratis holiday he and his family took three years ago at the Miami mansion of Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb. There was, Blair grumbled, simply not enough to do.
Happily, the accommodation on the Rising Sun is more than up to scratch. And Mr Blair's host, the billionaire software magnate Larry Ellison, has gone to immense trouble to ensure his stay is a comfortable one.
The former Prime Minister, who stayed aboard the yacht without wife Cherie or any of his four children, was assigned a personal butler to attend to his every whim. This extended, Mr Blair has confided, to applying his factor 30 sun cream.
After Mr Blair joined the vessel in Sardinia, Mr Ellison, the 64-year-old CEO of computer firm Oracle Corporation and the world's fourth richest man with a fortune of £13.6billion, threw a glitzy cocktail party on the deck in his honour.
Such opulence is a step up even from the luxury of Sir Cliff Richard's Barbados home, where the Blairs - when they were in Downing Street - used to spend their summer holidays.
Nowadays, Mr Blair likes to move in even more rarefied circles. Principal among his new super-rich friends is David Geffen, the self-made Tinseltown mogul and business partner of Steven Spielberg. The gay billionaire has become a close confidant.
In fact, so close are they that Mr Blair has introduced 66-year-old Geffen to his friend Peter Mandelson, who was a dinner guest on the Rising Sun himself last week.
The camp, shaven-headed Geffen has, in return, introduced the ex-Prime Minister to Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Steve Martin, with whom the Blairs holidayed aboard a yacht in Greece last summer.
A story told by a source very close to Mr Blair illustrates the orbit of wealth and excess in which he has been moving of late. >>> Paul Scott | Friday, August 14, 2009
