THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: He may be donating his multi-million pound earnings from his new biography to a good cause – but it seems Tony Blair and his wife Cherie still have enough money to buy a new home in the Caribbean.
The couple are house-hunting in Barbados for a villa to add to their already formidable property empire, The Sunday Telegraph understands. They have viewed properties on the island with the intention of buying a holiday home to which they could eventually retire.
The Blairs are believed to have been looking in earnest for a house on the former British colony, which has long been their favoured holiday destination, for at least three months. According to sources, hundreds of digital photographs of for-sale properties have been emailed to the couple.
A senior representative from one of the main estate agents on Barbados said: "Tony has a lot of friends on the island and has looked at property but he has not purchased anything yet to the best of our knowledge."
A leading solicitor on the island, which has a population of 280,000, said that she expects the Blairs to buy a property through a company – rather than in their own names – in an attempt to disguise the purchase for security and privacy reasons.
A new villa on the island would be the Blairs' eighth property: it was revealed this weekend that the former Prime Minister and his wife have spent £975,000 for a maisonette in west London for their only daughter, Kathryn, 22, a student, bringing the family's portfolio to some seven homes worth up to £15 million.
The couple are said to be open minded about whether they buy an existing house in Barbados or whether they buy a plot with planning permission for a new build.
A spacious and secluded six-bedroom villa with a swimming pool would cost around $6.2 million (£4 million), although Mr Blair is also believed to be keen to have a tennis court so he can play his favourite sport on his own land.
One of the locations the couple are said to favour is Apes Hill, where some 200 upmarket homes are being built on prime location land about 1,000 feet above sea level.
Plots alone range in cost from $400,000 (£258,000) to $10 million (£6,445,000) – before a brick has been laid. >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Sunday, August 29, 2010
