With every passing month, Tony Blair looks more and more like a deposed emperor who has systematically set up his own government in exile.
How else should we view the inexorable rise of his shadowy and quasi-political network of businesses, whose tentacles stretch from his smart offices next to the American Embassy in London into every corner of the globe?
This week, it was revealed the former Prime Minister has added a new country, Mongolia, to his burgeoning portfolio of business interests.
He has signed a contract to advise the Central Asian country’s leaders on ‘good governance’ through his money-making Government Advisory Practice.
And what does Mongolia have in common with most of the places Mr Blair does his business deals?
The answer is: pots of money. The once dirt-poor nation is about to strike it rich, thanks to vast copper and gold mines in the Gobi desert.
Blair won’t say how much he is earning from the tie-up — and his large team of spin doctors routinely deny almost any figures relating to his myriad international deals — but we can be sure it’ll run into millions.
How else could he bankroll 200 employees — a figure he’s set his sights on growing to 500 over the coming years — in his expanding network of offices around the world?
At the centre of this nexus of money and power is 60-year-old Blair himself, who is guaranteed a warm welcome — befitting an international statesman of the highest rank — when he is feted by some of the world’s most dirty and corrupt tin-pot leaders. » | Paul Scott | Saturday, June 15, 2013
