War declared on Blair
TONY Blair was last night facing calls to contribute to the cost of his security.
The demands came as anger mounted over his lucrative career worth millions in the private sector.[>
[>
As a former Prime Minister, Mr Blair is entitled to round-the-clock security at taxpayers’ expense for the rest of his life.[>
[>
The controversy over the Iraq war means he is judged to be a particularly high-profile target. Experts estimate his security bill costs the taxpayer “at least” £500,000 a year, and possibly more than £1million. [>
[>
The size of the bill is boosted by Mr Blair’s frequent foreign travel.[>
[>
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said Mr Blair’s earnings put him in a different league from previous Prime Ministers, who have mostly led low-key lives after leaving office.[>
[>
Mr Elliott said the scale of Mr Blair’s likely wealth meant it was right to ask whether he should make a contribution to the cost of his security, particularly if the bill was boosted by globe-trotting on commercial activities.[>
[>
He said: “It’s right that former Prime Ministers who enter retirement on a modest pension should continue to receive free security but Tony Blair is in a different league.[>
[>
“With a multi-million pound annual income and employment by two international institutions, he should consider covering his personal security bill himself or splitting the bill between his two new employers. Government spending and tax is high enough without covering all and sundry.”[>
[>
Last week it emerged Mr Blair was on course to become the wealthiest former Prime Minister in history after taking a part-time job with the US bank J P Morgan, which some reports suggest could be worth as much as £2million a year. [>
[>
Mr Blair said he planned to take on a “small handful” of similar jobs with other companies. He is also raking in more than £100,000 a time for speeches on the US lecture circuit. In the coming week alone, he will make three well-paid speeches in North America.[>
[>
Mr Blair has further secured a reported £5million advance for his memoirs. He receives a Prime Minister’s pension of £63,468 and is paid expenses for his high-profile role as a Middle East peace envoy.[>
[>
Revelations about Mr Blair’s job with JP Morgan caused anger last week because of the bank’s links to Iraq, where it heads a consortium set to make billions in the aftermath of the war. [>
[>
Reg Keys, whose son Tom was killed in the Iraq war, said it was “almost akin to blood money”.[>
[>
The speed with which Mr Blair has moved to cash in on contacts and knowledge gained during his time as Prime Minister is also causing concern. [>
[>
He has been barred from directly lobbying former colleagues for 12 months, but Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said this was not enough to allay public concerns about the “revolving door” between high office and lucrative jobs in the private sector.[>
[>
Mr Liddell-Grainger, a member of the Commons public administration committee, called for a tightening of the rules to ban former ministers from taking lobbying jobs for four years after leaving office. [>
[>
He added: “Blair’s move does seem too hasty. We should be looking at a cooling-off period because people don’t like the way this looks.”[>
