Tony Blair 'in £330,000 Demand for Hunger Talk'

SUNDAY EXPRESS: A SPEECH by Tony Blair at a world hunger conference was dropped after the former Prime Minister allegedly demanded a massive £330,000 fee, it has emerged.

Mr Blair was asked to speak at the Eat food forum in Stockholm, Sweden, which starts tomorrow.

The event, which last year featured a talk by former American president Bill Clinton, claims to be a forum where 'science politics and business can share insight and ideas to achieve our common goal of sustainably feeding a healthy world population.

Kruger Cowne talent agency, which represents Mr Blair, asked for a £250,000 fee plus £80,000 expenses for a twenty minute speech, according to the Sunday Times.

Mr Clinton got a total of £327,000 for his half-hour talk last year. Eat offered Mr Blair, who stepped down from his role as Middle East peace envoy last week, £215,000, but after months of talks, an agreement was not reached.

A source said: "Blair is just not Clinton, and even his star peer is fast diminishing.

"So for his talent reps to think Eat was going to pay massive bucks for him shows they overestimated his worth." » | Peter Henn | Sunday, May 31, 2015

Tony Blair Resigns as Middle East Peace Envoy

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair resigns from his position as Middle East peace envoy

Tony Blair has resigned from his position as the Quartet's peace envoy to the Middle East after seven years.

The former Prime Minister has been criticised for his dual role as diplomat and businessman.

He will quit the role - which he took up immediately after leaving Downing Street in 2007 - next month.

Sources said that although Mr Blair will no longer represent the Quartet he plans to remain "active on the issues". » | David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Tony Blair 'Had No Credibility' in Middle East Process, Says US Official

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: All sides in Middle East peace process would roll their eyes at mention of Tony Blair's name, US government official involved in talks tells Telegraph

Tony Blair had “no credibility” left with the parties in the Middle East peace process, a former US government official who was closely involved with trying to revive the talks last year has told The Telegraph.

“Frankly all sides just rolled their eyes at the mention of his name,” the official said as it was reported that Mr Blair was being “eased out” of his role as head of so-called Quartet.

Rumours that Mr Blair was being asked to step down have been circulating for some days, but were apparently confirmed on Sunday night by The Financial Times. Mr Blair’s office has declined to comment.

In his role, which he took up in 2007, Mr Blair represented the United States of America, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union as a Middle East peace envoy working with the Palestinians.

But in the last round of failed negotiations which began after John Kerry took over as US secretary of state 2013 and broke down last year, Mr Blair had become “a standing joke”, the official said, speaking last week. » | Peter Foster, Washington | Monday, March 16, 2015

Blair's Mistaken View of Islam Could Start New Religious War, Says His Former Aide

Former diplomat Mr Powell was at Mr Blair's side throughout
his time in Downing Street and played a key tole in the
Northern Ireland peace process

THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: Former chief of staff Jonathan Powell says Tony Blair's view is wrong / He suggests Blair's mistaken analysis could lead to a religious war / Mr Blair has urged people to realise there is a ‘problem within Islam’

Tony Blair's view that religious extremism lies at the heart of the Middle East crisis was dismissed last night by his former chief of staff.

Jonathan Powell said Mr Blair was wrong to blame the region’s problems on tensions within Islam. He even suggested that his old boss’s mistaken analysis could lead to a ‘21st Century version’ of a religious war.

Mr Blair has highlighted the dangers of religious extremism provoking conflicts in regions such as the Middle East and has urged people to realise there is a ‘problem within Islam’.

But Mr Powell, one of the former premier’s most loyal lieutenants during his time in No 10, said: ‘I see it from a different angle. He [Blair] argues that this is a new phenomenon we are facing. I don’t accept that.’

In an interview with Total Politics magazine, Mr Powell said: ‘What Tony Blair is trying to do is to look at it from the inter-faith point of view, which is something beyond me.

‘The danger is that you can end up framing these conflicts in ideological terms and return to the religious wars of the 16th Century in Europe. You don’t want to let this Sunni / Shia divide turn into a 21st Century version of the Thirty Years’ War. Read on and comment » Brendan Carlin for the Mail On Sunday | Saturday, November 01, 2014

George Galloway Replies to Tony Blair on ISIS and Iraq – In The Now – Russia Today – June 16, 2014

George Galloway replies to Tony Blair on ISIS

Tony Blair Raises Spectre That Returning British Jihadists ‘Could Use Kenya Terror Tactics’ To Disrupt UK

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Amid fears of new undetectable bomb threat to planes, former prime minister discusses dangers posed by return of up to 1,500 “battle-hardened, determined and trained” British jihadists from Iraq and Syria

Tony Blair has raised the spectre that “battle-hardened” British jihadists returning from the Middle East could wreak the same sort of havoc as Islamic terrorists have inflicted in Kenya by targetting the tourism industry.

The former Prime Minister was talking to Yahoo News about the dangers faced by Western countries from their returning citizens who have trained and fought in Iraq and Syria.

“The important thing to realise is that they are our citizens so we cannot stop them coming back,” Mr Blair told interviewer Katie Couric when asked about fears that terrorists with Western passports could smuggle new undetectable bombs on to planes.

“We don’t know where they have been, but they will come back into our country, they have got the right to be in our country. And there are two things that worry me about this[:] » | Philip Sherwell, New York | Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Tony Blair Accused of Conflict of Interests in Middle East

Tony Blair. Rumours are circulating in London and Cairo
of plans to advise the Egyptian government under
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

THE GUARDIAN: Critics unite to demand his sacking as Quartet's envoy as evidence emerges of his private business interests expanding in region

Iraq's latest bloody crisis and its links to the 2003 war brought Tony Blair back into the headlines this week, along with calls for him to step down as a Middle East peace envoy – but new evidence has emerged that his private business interests in the ever-volatile region are expanding.

Aides to the former prime minister confirmed that he was actively considering opening an office in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is in the frontline of the struggle against political Islam. But a spokesperson denied suggestions by a leading Arab economist that he was being considered for a job advising Oman on its long-term development, after his controversial £27m consultancy project for the Kuwaiti government in recent years.

Retired diplomats and political enemies united to demand Blair be sacked as the envoy of the Quartet – the UN, US, Russia and EU – after achieving little to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace in seven years. Read on and comment » | Ian Black and Patrick Kingsley | Friday, June 27, 2014

What Will Be Blair's Legacy In Iraq?

Impeach Tony Blair: As Iraq Burns, Parliament Should Put This Deluded Liar On Trial, Writes Simon Heffer

Tony Blair appeared a self-serving fantasist with blood on his
hands when he was interviewed on Sky News

MAIL ONLINE: With allies of Al Qaeda running amok in Iraq and heading for Baghdad, the disastrous legacy of Britain's entanglement there with the invasion of 2003 becomes ever more blindingly obvious.

Obvious to everyone, that is, except the man who ordered it.

Seven years after leaving office, and 11 years after British troops flooded across the southern border, Tony Blair continues to cause outrage and bewilderment over Iraq.

Noting the eruption of the jihad there, Mr Blair professes that ‘we have to liberate ourselves from the notion that “we” have caused this. We haven't.'

Only a handful of American neo-conservatives, most of them discredited and seeking to protect their reputations, too, would agree with him. To most people, he appears a self-serving fantasist with blood on his hands.

Saddam Hussein was evil and vicious. However, the mixture of repression and corruption with which he governed meant Iraq was spared the Sunni-on-Shia violence that is tearing the country apart now, threatening the entire region and, with it, the security and prosperity of the West.

Some would question Mr Blair's sanity. Indeed, a former close friend, the novelist Robert Harris, did so only recently, suggesting he had a ‘messiah complex'.

It takes a rare politician to admit any error, let alone one based on a lie — the sexed-up ‘dodgy dossier' Mr Blair put before Parliament in March 2003 to support his contention that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction — which cost the lives of 173 British servicemen and six servicewomen. Read on and comment » | Simon Heffer | Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Tony Blair Is A 'Tragic' Narcissist With A Messiah Complex, Says Former Confidant And Author Robert Harris »

Iraq News: Tony Blair Airbrushing Role in Creating Isis in Iraq, Nick Clegg Says

Members of the Islam State of Iraq and Shaam (ISIS) with
senior commander Abu Waheeb

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair is 'pretending' the 2003 invasion is not the current cause of Iraq chaos, Deputy PM says

Tony Blair is attempting to “airbrush” his role in creating the violence engulfing Iraq, Nick Clegg has said.

The former Prime Minister is engaged in a “pointless academic exercise” to “pretend” the 2003 invasion of Iraq did not contribute to chaos and bloodshed consuming Iraq today.

Jihadist fighters from ISIS, an al-Qaeda aligned force, have entered from Syria and seized a string of Iraqi cities, committing massacres of Iraqi Army prisoners.

Britain will not provide “frontline” military support to the Iraqi government but will provide "passive assistance" to the United States in the case of airstrikes, Mr Clegg indicated.


Asked at his monthly press conference whether Britain would allow the United States to use airbases or airspace, Mr Clegg said: “We will not be providing active, frontline military resources to any action taken.

"But of course we will talk to America about what can be done. We are not going to stand in the way of military action that is well-judged and well-targeted to try and reassert some semblance of order in Iraq. I am certainly not suggesting we rule out passive assistance, even if we are not going to embark on active assistance.”

Only the United States has the military capacity to strike in Iraq and Britain should not “pretend” that it can, Mr Clegg said. » | Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent | Monday, June 16, 2014

The Slaughter That Shames Tony Blair: Outcry from All Sides over Former Prime Minister's 'Crusader' Call for a New Blitz on Iraq as the Country Descends into a Bloodbath

MAIL ONLINE: Tony Blair said current chaos in Iraq could have been avoided / The former PM suggested the West should have bombed Syria / Blair said it was 'bizarre' that Iraq War was blamed for violence / Also suggested inaction could lead to a terror attack in the UK / But his comments prompt avalanche of criticism from Left and Right / Former minister Clare Short said he was 'wrong, wrong, wrong' / Pictures have emerged showing the mass execution of government soldiers


Iraq descended to new depths of savagery yesterday – as Tony Blair washed his hands of all blame for the bloodshed.

With Islamist jihadists now in control of large areas of the country, appalling pictures emerged showing the mass execution of government soldiers by masked fanatics.

Dozens of terrified men in civilian clothes lie in a shallow ditch before being executed in cold blood by Islamist extremists.

The Iraqi Army deserters, some wearing football shirts, were taken to scrubland where they faced a firing squad of Al Qaeda-inspired insurgents.

But, to derision from Left and Right, Mr Blair insisted that the sectarian violence tearing the country apart had nothing to do with his own actions in supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Instead, he blamed the West’s failure to bomb Syria last year – and called for fresh Western military action against both nations.

‘We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that “we” have caused this,’ the former Prime Minister wrote in an extraordinary essay. ‘We haven’t.’ Read on and comment » | Jason Groves | Monday, June 16, 2014

Tony Blair Iraq Comments: Senior Labour Figures Distance Themselves from Former PM after He Refuses to Accept Blame for New Crisis

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Sources close to Ed Miliband refused to endorse Mr Blair’s analysis

Senior Labour figures rapidly distanced themselves from Tony Blair after he supported airstrikes on Iraq and Syria – and refused to accept that he should accept any of the blame for the crisis engulfing the region.

He defended his Government’s backing for the US-led invasion of Iraq, insisting it had been right to oust Saddam Hussein and urging military intervention to halt the advance of extremist Isis forces across the north of the country.

The former Prime Minister’s comments, in a blogpost on his website and a series of television interviews, opened fresh wounds within the party over the 11-year-old Iraq war.

Sources close to Ed Miliband refused to endorse Mr Blair’s analysis. One told the Independent: “What matters now is making the judgements rather than seeking to make points about what happened in the past.”

The shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, echoed the Coalition Government’s view that military action is not contemplated. He said: “The truth is that it is the Iraqis themselves who hold the key to resolving this crisis.” » | Nigel Morris | Sunday, June 15, 2014

Tony Blair on Iraq: The Andrew Marr Show

'Intervene in Iraq and Syria Or Britain Will Face Terror Attacks': Blair Warns UK Should Get Involved as He Defends Decision to Topple Saddam

MAIL ON SUNDAY: Former PM says Middle East terror will return to Europe if it's not faced fown [sic] / Calls for intervention in Iraq to stop ISIS terrorists taking Baghdad / Says biggest single threat for the UK is returning British jihadist fighters

Tony Blair this morning said Britain needed to take action in Iraq and Syria - or face terror attacks in at home.

The former Prime Minister said the UK needed to intervene to stop a 'total disaster'. He insisted that he was not calling for troops on the ground - but suggested the 'selective use of air power' was one option on the table.

Mr Blair said: 'If we don't deal with the Syria issue then the problems are not just going to be for Syria and for the region, the problems are actually going to come back and they are going to hit us very directly even in our own country.'

He added: 'If you talk to security services in France and Germany and the UK, they will tell you their biggest single worry today returning jihadists fighters - our own citizens by the way - from Syria.

'We have to look at Syria, and Iraq and the region in context. We have to understand what's going on there and engage.'

He said that didn't mean 'ground troops' but it we shouldn't 'wash our hands of it and walk away'.

Mr Blair's remarks this morning come as extremist fighters from the al-Qaida-inspired 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' bear down on Baghdad.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show [sic] Mr Blair said an ISIS victory would be a 'total disaster and it mustn't be allowed to happen'.

He said: 'We are going to have to engage with it and if we don't then the consequences will come back on us.' » | Tom McTague, Mail Online Deputy Editor | Sunday, June 15, 2014

Iraq, Syria and the Middle East – An essay by Tony Blair: The civil war in Syria with its attendant disintegration is having its predictable and malign effect. Iraq is now in mortal danger. The whole of the Middle East is under threat. » | Office of Tony Blair | Saturday, June 14, 2014

'Iraq Chaos Is Tony Blair’s Legacy’: Intervention by Ex-PM in 2003 Destabilised the Country and Left It Open to Extremism, Says Home Office Minister

MAIL ONLINE: Government 'rules out' new Iraqi campaign despite major Jihadist threat / Al Qaeda militants have seized large areas of northern Iraq / Norman Baker said Iraq was stable under Saddam 'in a vile sort of way'

The disaster unfolding in Iraq was branded ‘Tony Blair’s legacy’ last night as Britain ruled out military intervention.

Though Islamist extremists are threatening to seize Baghdad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was ‘not contemplating’ any form of action, and Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was no role for the alliance.

US President Barack Obama insisted his country had an interest in stopping jihadists taking control and said he was looking at ‘all options’, including drone strikes.

Iraq is facing a return to its darkest days after al Qaeda-linked militants seized a huge swathe of the Iraq’s northern region and vowed to press on to the capital. Read on and comment » | James Chapman | Thursday, June 12, 2014

Jeremy Paxman's Best Interview Ever?

Tony Blair: Nigel Farage Is Deceiving the British People over Immigration

The former Prime Minister said that it is "dangerous and wrong"
for Britain's political leaders to pander to "unpleasant prejudices"

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The former Prime Minister says the Ukip leader is fuelling grievances about immigration and it is 'dangerous' for other politicians to pander to such 'unpleasant prejudices'

Nigel Farage is "traducing" Britain and "deceiving" voters by fuelling "grievances" about immigration and Europe, Tony Blair has said.

The former Prime Minister said that it is "dangerous and wrong" for Britain's political leaders to pander to "unpleasant prejudices" and an "attitude which says we don't like foreigners".

He said that politicians should not tell the "white, working class, unemployed youth" that they would find jobs if there were fewer Polish people working in the UK.

He said that the answer should be to provide young people with the education and skills they need to "face the world's challenges and overcome them." » | Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent | Monday, June 02, 2014

Tony Blair the Return? Former PM 'Seeks EU Saviour Role'

THE INDEPENDENT: Tony Blair reportedly proposed a 'pro-European role' for himself in a meeting with Angela Merkel

Tony Blair is apparently angling for a come back to European politics as saviour to the European Union in the face of growing public scepticism.

Not content with his widely condemned performance and perceived failures as Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Blair now wants to get his hands back on the EU and Britain.

In a meeting with Angela Merkel, hours after the European elections, Blair pushed the case for him taking up a “pro-European role”, The Financial Times reports. » | Toma Jivanda | Saturday, May 31, 2014

World Leaders Back Campaign to Drop Sudanese Woman's Death Sentence

Daniel Wani married his wife Meriam in 2011 but the court
ruled the union invalid and found Ibrahim guilty of adultery.

THE GUARDIAN: British PM David Cameron and US activist Jesse Jackson speak out against death row detention of Meriam Ibrahim

World leaders have added their voices to the campaign to lift the death sentence given to Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman sentenced to hang for apostasy. They join her husband, Daniel Wani, in calling for the sentence to be dropped.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, and the US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson were among those to speak out after Wani appealed for international support to free his wife from death row, where she is being held with her two young children after giving birth in shackles this week.

Cameron said he was "absolutely appalled" when he heard of the decision. "The way she is being treated is barbaric and has no place in today's world. Religious freedom is an absolute, fundamental human right."

His words were echoed by the Labour and Lib Dem leaders, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, and the former prime minister Tony Blair described the sentence as a "brutal and sickening distortion of faith". » | Harriet Sgerwood | Saturday, May 31, 2014

Tony Blair Urges Labour to Take On Ukip over Immigration and EU

Tony Blair says an anti-immigration platform would confuse
Labour supporters.

THE GUARDIAN: Former leader says Ed Miliband will not gain anything if he tries to follow 'nasty and unpleasant' party led by Nigel Farage

Tony Blair has urged the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, and the rest of the mainstream political class to take on and confront Ukip, saying it would only confuse Labour's own supporters if it now ran on an anti-immigration platform.

He also urged Miliband to stay put on the issue of an in/out EU referendum, saying that yielding to the pressure of Ukip had not done the Conservative party any good to date.

Behind the Ukip facade was something pretty nasty and unpleasant, Blair told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The former Labour leader said: "For the Labour party, if it tries to follow Ukip either on its anti-European platform or, even worse frankly, on its anti-immigrant platform, all that will happen is that it will confuse its own supporters and will not draw any greater support."

Miliband has repeatedly apologised for Labour's lenient approach to immigration in the past, saying it had not understood enough about the downsides of globalisation for working-class communities. Read on and comment » | Patrick Wintour, political editor | Tuesday, May 27, 2014