Tony Blairs office declined to comment on fees he would be paid for advising on Azerbaijans gas pipeline (Oli Scarff)

Beleaguered Blair quizzed over millions Jon Ungoed-Thomas Published: 18 January 2015

TONY BLAIR is to be challenged by parliament to come clean on his income and secretive financial empire amid claims he stands to earn millions of pounds advising the developers of a gas pipeline backed by the despotic regime of Azerbaijan.

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A parliamentary motion will be tabled this week calling for greater scrutiny of prime ministers financial interests and work for foreign states after they leave office.

Blair has avoided any requirement to reveal details of his international consultancy work because he is neither an MP nor a member of the House of Lords.

Former prime ministers are required to seek advice only for a period of two years after they leave office on any appointments they wish to take up.

Blair clients have included Nursultan Nazarbayev, the autocratic president of Kazakhstan, where the former prime ministers consultancy has been paid an estimated 8m a year.

He has also accepted an advisory role for the gas pipeline, which will run from Azerbaijan to Europe. The Azerbaijan regime was criticised by the US last month over its crackdown on civil society.

A document drafted in support of the early day motion claims Blair stands to earn millions of pounds in advisory fees for work on the $45bn pipeline project, which is based on information from Azerbaijan. Blairs office said the claims regarding the advisory fees were inaccurate and a complete invention. It declined to comment on the money Blair would be paid.

Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for Northwest Leicestershire, said former prime ministers should be bound for life by the seven principles of public life, known as the Nolan principles, which include accountability and openness. He is to table an early day motion calling for greater oversight of the work that prime ministers can accept after leaving office.

Tony Blair has embarked on a career of personal enrichment and has blurred the lines between his public and private interests, he said. No other former prime minister has gone to work for other sovereign states. Mr Blair is still in public life, but is not bound by its principles and that needs to be changed.

Blair can still claim an allowance from the public purse in connection with his public duties as a former prime minister. In 2012-13, the most recent year for which figures are available, he claimed 115,000, which is the maximum allowed. All former prime minsters are entitled to the allowance.

The challenge to Blair over his burgeoning financial empire comes as he faces acute parliamentary scrutiny over his record in office. He was summoned to appear before a parliamentary committee last week over letters sent to fugitive IRA suspects during his premiership saying they were no longer wanted by police. Blair was admonished by the committee for being extremely disrespectful after initially saying he was too busy to attend.

Since leaving office, Blair has created a business and charitable empire spanning the globe. He has dismissed reports that he is worth more 100m, suggesting the figure is closer to 20m.

The Sunday Times revealed last year details of a secret contract Blair had secured with a Saudi Arabian oil firm, PetroSaudi, which stipulated Tony Blair Associates would be paid a 2% success fee for any deals it helped set up. The contract also stated that Blairs paid role should be kept confidential.

Blair has created a complex corporate structure which he admits is designed to avoid what he considers would be unfair scrutiny of his clients. One of his companies, Windrush Ventures, published accounts revealing a turnover of 14.2m. Blairs office says the accounts for Windrush and related entities do not represent his earnings or the earnings or the profit of his business and are not referable to them.

The pipeline from Azerbaijan to Italy is known as the southern corridor project and is backed by BP and Socar, the Azerbaijan state oil company. Blair sits on the advisory panel with Peter Sutherland, By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can change this and find out more by following this link.

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the chairman of Goldman Sachs. Sutherland is also a former chairman of BP and visited Libya with Blair in May 2007, when the oil company signed a 450m exploration deal. The third member of the panel is Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the former German foreign minister.

A BP spokesman said the southern corridor advisory panel would advise on political, environmental and reputational challenges during the construction of the pipeline, which is due to be completed by 2019. BP said the 11 companies involved in the project wanted an external panel they could all trust.

Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said Blair might consider he was not technically advising the Azerbaijan regime, but it was dodging the issue on human rights because Socar was wholly state-owned.

In 2014, there was a major round-up in Azerbaijan of important leaders of independent organisations who were critical of the government who have been put in prison, he said.

Williamson said Blair should speak out strongly on human rights abuses in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan or not accept work from those countries.

The document drafted to support Bridgens early day motion states that Blair has a two-year contract for the consortium, paid at a rate of 6m a year.

A spokesman for Blair said: The case for the pipeline has been made by the UK government and the EU on many occasions because of its importance for energy security and diversity of supply. The advisory panel is jointly funded by the four southern corridor projects and the companies involved in them. We do not disclose Mr Blairs earnings but the figures you suggest are risible and a complete invention.

@JonUngoedThomas

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January 18, 2015 15:51

January 18, 2015 14:52

BenjiBargeDog

Robert Holmes

43 people listening

He's seedy, he's tacky and he deserves everything that's coming his way.

6 Recommend Reply

237 comments

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Tran Dung

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January 18, 2015 14:19

January 18, 2015 14:11

January 18, 2015 13:42

Micael

Mr erald McDermott

lie

right from his election we knew he was the original snake oil salesman.he had not a whisper of sincerity. Suckers.And yet he is still a piece of the action envoy?

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January 19, 2015 06:17eter Burgess Robert Holmes Did "we" is that why Rupert and others supported him to 2 more landslide election victories?

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Judging from many of the comments on this Wall from both UK, US and other members, it is both the left and the right who are jealous etc. It seems that the majority are meeting on the middle ground and in agreement on this matter ... it's a good job we don't go in for lynching from the nearest lamp-post ... more's the pity as I'd pay to see something like that. :-)

1 Recommend Reply

January 18, 2015 16:15laugalot

Micheal,

Sorry mate. I have to many morals to be jealous of this man.

5 Recommend Reply

You should pay more attention. I knew what would happen running up to 1979, and warned people what was coming. I had a good idea in 1987 and in 2007 I was well prepared, and have made quite a bit of money since.

Unfortunately I have no idea what is going to happen next week, and neither does anyone else which to their credit they admit. Swiss Franc anyone?

But the number of billionaires keeps on growing. Even Reagan was bemused he memorably said. A billion here and a billion there and you are soon talking serious money. Yet since Reagan's day trillions have been transferred from the West to China and the Far East. China now has a massive surplus invested in the West and We have massive deficits, and there is money sloshing about all over hence Switzerland's desperate measures before the EU introduces QE.

What Blair is doing is just a part of this. We need more transparency, and as you point out it is anything but socialism, but even capitalism should not be this bad.

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There isn't a politician in the land I would trust, never mind Blair. He always made me feel queasy when I was a young man and he still makes me feel sick today. The very worst of politicians. I watched Clegg this morning and felt the same revulsion. I feel the same about Cameron and Milliband. They disgust me. Morally bankrupt all of them. They epitomise this generation of political animals. Disgusting, greedy liars. I fear for the future of my children and grand children. If I could afford to, I would leave this once great nation of ours. We are finished. Where are the great orators, the men of honour and passion? God help us, I'm sick of them all.

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January 18, 2015 15:06

January 18, 2015 16:05

Rodne illett

Nossd

lie In general terms l agree with you but if you feel like that you should be doing something about it. Are you, and if you are what is it?

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January 18, 2015 16:17lie

Rodne illett lie

I'm too busy trying to earn a living. My wife and I work harder now than at any time in our lives and are just keeping our heads above water. We vote for them and pay for them out of our taxes. I expect them to work with honesty and integrity on the behalf of the people of this country, not to line their own pockets. Is that too much to ask? If you agree with me are you doing anything about it?

2 Recommend Reply

lie I can only agree with equal disgust having seen Clegg ludicrously evade any question until he got the chance to start spouting the sound bites in his comfort zone, which were typically diatribes on the failings of the other parties. When he mentioned how so very proud he was of all his govt. has achieved on addressing literacy in education it reminded me of tears in his eyes DCam on his pride in the increase in foreign aid spending. Harriott Harmen god help her had swallowed a tape recording that got stuck at Cost of Living and looked choked/annoyed at every question.

Have politicians before ever been so out of touch with reality? Tonight our dinner discussion was on politics - something my 11 year is reviewing in school. His father asked - so what do you think politicians do? -The word lie escaped my lips before I could help it.

And to answer a very valid question from Rodney - what am I doing about it? Voting, tweeting the big 4 partes and living and paying taxes abroad so I can mail my GP practice for a Dr's appt and be called back within 15 minutes and have an apt in an hour.

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