Tony Blair

It’s An Equitable Life, Eventually

Economy, Tony Blair, UK politics, War on Iraq
Published on

Blairs’ properties go into negative equity.

Oh please, please, please let them be repossessed and evicted by the bailiffs.

UPDATE:

Chicken Yogurt reports that Scotland Yard is launching a war crimes investigation into Blair and former Attorney General Goldsmith:

[…]

Officers from Scotland Yard have commenced a criminal investigation into the deaths of Iraqi citizens killed during the armed invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Metropolitan Police are acting in response to crimes reported by peace activists from We Are Change UK and The Campaign to Make War History. In an unprecedented step, the case was handed to the War Crimes division of the Counter Terrorism branch who are now investigating allegations of 14 criminal offences committed by Tony Blair, Lord Goldsmith and others. The offences are under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, which came into effect under English common law, just two days before 9/11.

Two Members of We Are Change UK and a representative from the Campaign to Make War History were interviewed for six hours at Belgravia Police station on the 20th December 2007. Evidence was provided to the police relating to the crimes of:-

• genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and conduct ancillary to these crimes under Sections 51 and 52 of The International Criminal Court Act 2001.
• a crime against peace and complicity in a crime against peace under Articles 6 and 7 of The Nuremburg Principles.
• murder, incitement to murder and conspiracy to murder under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
• conspiracy to commit genocide, a crime against humanity and war crimes under the Criminal Law Act 1977.

More…

Is there no evil this man won’t stoop to?

Tony Blair
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Tony Blair, raking it in after his retirement, is caught fair dodging:

Tony Blair has been caught fare-dodging. On Monday the former Prime Minister, who will earn in excess of £7m from his various speaking engagements and executive positions, was stopped on the Heathrow Express and asked to present his ticket by an inspector. He couldn’t. His excuse?

A red-faced Blair said that an aide had given him the money for the ticket – £24.50 – the night before, but when he arrived at Paddington he couldn’t find it. Blair, it seems, was “doing a Queen” and not carrying any money or bank cards. According to Blair’s spokesman, one of his security guards (travelling with him to the States for a speech engagement) offered to pay on his behalf but the inspector waived the fee, giving TB a free ride.

Typical. If you or I “forget” to pay our fares, we get a stiff fine. But for the former prime minister and war criminal, the fare is waived. Note that Tone has “earned” 7 million pound already in his post-pm career.

Who says (war)crime doesn’t pay?

New Labour, New Corruption

Capitalism, Corruption, Tony Blair
Published on

Unlike the funny guys at Through the Scary Door, who want to make sure that you know that none of this is corrupt I am happy to indeed call this corruption: if not legally, than morally:

Tony Blair is due to take his post-prime ministerial earnings to more than £7m this year following his appointment to a six-figure-salary job with Zurich Insurance, the Swiss financial firm, advising it on climate change.
The company, which could pay out tens of millions of pounds for claims from businesses and householders over floods, hurricanes and droughts caused by global warming, is taking Blair on to advise it on the implications of climate change.

[…]
The appointment is the fourth deal negotiated by Blair since leaving office. He is getting a £5.8m advance for his memoirs and £500,000 from Washington Speakers Bureau Inc for a worldwide tour of speaking engagements.

Earlier this month it was disclosed he was getting £500,000 a year as a consultant to bankers JP Morgan Chase.

Not to worry though that these companies are renting Blair to unduly influence the current government. Blair has made some strict promises not to do so until next July:

In accepting these jobs, Blair has agreed conditions with the advisory committee on business appointments – the body that vets ex-ministers and senior civil servants taking outside jobs. He has agreed not to lobby Gordon Brown, or any minister or official, on banking or climate change for his new employers or their clients until next July. He has pledged not to reveal any “privileged information that was available to him as prime minister” in his speeches.

No, these companies are not handing him large amounts of money (compared to what you and I make, only peanuts from their perspective of course) to buy his influence, but to reward him for being a good boy. It’s a doggie biscuit.