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What’s wrong with Tony Blair making some money?
Talking Point: Former PM’s accusers suffer from ‘Blair Derangement Syndrome’
LAST night's Dispatches documentary on Channel 4 suggested former prime minister Tony Blair had personally enriched himself by abusing his position as a Middle East peace envoy for the Quartet (the organisation representing the UN, the EU, the US and Russia).
It alleged that Blair had used his role to promote lucrative business deals between Israel and Palestine which benefited clients of an investment bank, JP Morgan, that pays him as a consultant. Some commentators were quick to condemn Blair over the allegations, but others saw it as a just another case of "Blair derangement syndrome".
Blair faces serious questions
Blair insists that his conduct since stepping down as prime minister has been honourable, says Peter Oborne, who presented the Dispatches documentary, in the Telegraph. But one thing is clear – when Blair joined the Quartet, he was given an opportunity to make a contribution to world peace. Instead, he seems to treat his role as a part-time post, "allowing his private commercial interests to merge with his public duty. And – as ever – the old maestro is getting away with it".
Tony Blair's obsession with making millions of dollars on the back of his reputation as a former Prime Minister is well known, says Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. But if the claims made by Dispatches are correct, Blair faces some serious charges.
If Blair has any hope of rehabilitating his reputation, adds Glover, "he must supply a full account and justification" of his travels to Libya, as well as his dealings in Palestine. "Don't count on that happening any time soon."
Accusers are just Blair haters
The Dispatches documentary was just a regurgitation of discredited Daily Mail stories, says Shamik Das on Left Foot Forward. The claims of conflicts of interest and secrecy "were debunked the first time they were made, yet are being repeated as fact".
Oborne claimed in Dispatches that Blair's support for the Palestinian mobile company Wataniya and a gas field development off Gaza are somehow connected to his role with JP Morgan. That's not correct, says Das - "the truth is Blair advocated for both projects at the direct request of the Palestinians".
And what's wrong with an ex-prime minister making money anyway, asks Dominic Lawson in the Independent. You don't hear many complaints about another former PM, John Major, making plenty of money working as an advisor for a secretive Washington DC-based private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, which has also signed up former US politicians including President George HW Bush.
If Blair managed to broker peace between Palestine and Israel, some would still condemn him, writes Lawson. This is just another case of what has been termed 'Blair Derangement Syndrome', and more generally, "the current mood of revulsion against politics". Blair was once the most popular politician of his era, and now the infatuation has worn off and he must "become the most irrationally hated". ·
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Of course no one should have any problem with him making money. What I as an ex serviceman have a problem with, is him openly lying to the public about wmds, lying about his religious fundamentalist views, ok he did confess about that after he left office, and sending our servicemen and women to die in an illegal war (Iraq) which he had already arranged, so he could pay off his many mortgages.
If I ever had the opportunity to be an MP, my first thought would be to make a very positive difference to peoples lives; not take up the post to create opportunities to line my pockets. What I saw on Despatches yesterday Monday 26th of September 2011 was a disgrace. For a man who failed in office (Iraq a very strong point in case) to be showered with such wealth that in all true honesty he hasn't earned, shows some of what is wrong in the world we live in today. His legacy in office will always be remembered for more wrong doings to peoples lives than good, very poor or questionable judgements, control, corruption and deception. The Middle East was on the wrongful side of some of this man's poor decisions; yet he is now profiting out of some of their many miseries; some caused by him. Profiting at the expense of the British people by writing about his time in Downing Street; a public office and not his personal one is very questionable. It reeks of corruption right through out. Thank GOD he is no longer the leader of this country.
Tony Blair is a war criminal responsible for the murder of 500,000 innocent civilians in Iraq. Blair should face trial at the Hague for his crimes. He has no business to be representing anyone at all.