THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair is under pressure to give to charity a fee of at least £90,000 he was paid for making a speech in Azerbaijan, which is notorious for its human rights abuses.
The former prime minister flew to Azerbaijan where he met the country's president and visited a methanol factory owned by a multi-millionaire businessman.
His visit was a coup for the country's rulers as his well-known grin beamed out on state television from a press conference to homes throughout the small, oil-rich nation.
Now opposition groups and British MPs have complained, that although Mr Blair had every right to visit the country, he missed a golden opportunity to criticise its human rights abuses. They are insisting he should donate his fee to charity.
Earlier this year, David Plouffe, a former senior aide to Barack Obama, was castigated for giving a speech in Azerbaijan - booked through the same Washington-based public speaking agency as Mr Blair. In the wake of the outcry he agreed to hand his fee to a group promoting democracy in the region.
Peter Kilfoyle, a Labour MP who in the mid 1990s helped run Mr Blair's Labour leadership campaign, said: "The very least he can do is donate [h]is fee to a charity that works in the area of human rights.
"He should not be profiting from a country that flagrantly ignores human rights. There have long been questions about the Azeris and their approach to human rights." Tony Blair told by Azerbaijan victims: 'Give your £90,000 speaker's fee to charity' >>> Nick Meo in Baku and Robert Mendick | Sunday, December 13, 2009
