I am so committed to getting my book finished I really don’t have time or energy to blog at the moment, and realise it has been very desultory the last few weeks. I am well and happy, it is just that writing a properly researched history is incredibly intensive. I realise there is much of great interest happening in the world, but I must sometimes cut myself off from it.
This is why I don’t ask for donations for the blog…
Tony doesn’t seem to have visited his old mate and globalisation apprentice, Paul Kagame, lately. Perhaps he should, if only to explain this:
http://www.therwandan.com/blog/kagame-blair-us250-million-phantom-project-is-dead-buried/
Caveat: (applying to anything linked on any blog anywhere) this source may not be entirely impartial. However, the Companies House record agrees with the article. Like Tony Blair Institute, Eco Positive (Rwanda) Limited was a private limited company and no details as to what, if any cashflow it enjoyed are available. It appears to have been owned by a Mr Oliver John Blakeman, and was based in Surrey. Although this is the firm named in the article, and now struck-off it may not be identical with the outfit which negotiated for a biofuel plantation.. This is simply Eco Positive Limited (Website: http://www.eco-positive.co.uk … ‘Error establishing a database connection’, right now), according to an old Telegraph article, and also a private limited company:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8885987/Tony-Blair-trips-to-Africa-and-an-intriguing-friendship.html
This Eco Positive currently has two persons with significant control, one of whom, Mr Carl Aga Hassan, shares an address with Eco Positive Rwanda (deceased)’s registered office. Simon Page, named by the Telegraph as a director of Eco Positive Ltd, does not appear in the Companies House documentation either as a current or a former officer of the company. EPLtd is listed as SIC 41100 -development of building projects. Nothing to do with biofuels, then
We’d be fascinated to explore Blair’s connection with this company. Because our scam alarm keeps sounding even after we have taken out the battery.
Update – revisiting Companies House while awake confirms that both Hassan and Boyce, currently directors of Eco Positive Ltd, were directors of Eco Positive (Rwanda) Ltd (deceased).. However, Blakeman was only a director of the Rwanda branch – although there appears to be a mention of him on the fragment Google has preserved of EP Ltd’s website text. He is now the sole active director of Carbon Project Finance Ltd, paradoxically SIC-listed as 70229 – Management consultancy activities other than financial management (my italics). This appears to be profitable, modestly.
Biofuel News confirms that Rwanda has belatedly realised its climate is not suitable for growing jatropha, (the crop on which the proposal was based in 2009 – see link to Rwandan.com, above) and that its National Industrial Research and Development Agency, which inherited the project – scaled down – from EP and the Californian Eco-Fuel Global LLC, has stopped operations.
http://biofuels-news.com/display_news/11877/Rwanda_ditches__35m_biodiesel_pilot_project/
No surprise there, as this 2012 article explains. But it’s surprising that Rwanda took five years to cotton on:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/08/22/159391553/how-a-biofuel-dream-called-jatropha-came-crashing-down
Curse of Blair, again.
Attack Of The Zombie –
Tony Blair calls for people to ‘rise up’ against Brexit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38996179
Always was fond of a bit of fiighting, was Tony. As long as someone else suffered the consequences. Anyway, that looks to me like incitement to riot. Any old Orgreave plods ready to take up the challenge?
The campaign comes complete with social media stooges. Someone called Alastair Campbell, of whom we have never heard, tweets:
Fascinating to see how Brexitremists don’t want to engage on the substance of the argument re @tonyblairoffice speech, just shoot messenger
Which as the Proclamation of Tony Blair’s text has only just been released (though to all media everywhere), and he hasn’t even made the damn speech at this time, could be construed as premature.
The substance of the argument, Alastair, is that Blair has a very significant personal, ideological, social and financial interest in globalisation. But as usual he stays well away from the substance, and in the true spirit of 1984 asserts that patriotism is best served by having someone else govern you. K?
There is another take on this, however. As Scott Nelson, of Socialist Voice, tweeted:
Tony Blair has scurried out of the sewer spouting anti-Brexit rhetoric to sabotage Labour’s by-elections. Both are Brexit constituencies.
Exactly.
Time to revist Blair’s wholly dispassionate support for the EU:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2672301/Now-Albania-sets-sights-EU-membership-helped-Tony-Blair-former-spin-chief-Alastair-Campbell.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11457121/Cherie-Blair-signs-deal-to-act-for-Albania-where-her-husband-is-official-adviser.html
Not an unqualified success, though:
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/tony-blair-s-albania-adventure-fails-to-take-off
And obviously patriotism demanded that he let that one go tits-up in order to become The Saviour of Remain:
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/tony-blair-closes-his-collaboration-with-albanian-government-09-22-2016
Or something. Remembering that this was all based on a very cosy relationship with Rama, and the usual assertions re transformative change etc, the perils of taking Tony’s advice are all too evident today:
https://inserbia.info/today/2017/02/albania-protesters-converge-on-tirana-demand-resignation-of-edi-rama/
That was then (2013 – Blair contracts to advise Albania on governance):
In a press statement, a(n Albanian – BZ) Socialist Party spokesman said: “With Tony Blair and his team we will have on our side a very important partner, with a unique experience and all the right advice to build a successful government and to make a reality of our programme for an Albanian Renaissance.”
This is now (February 15th 2017. Heritage Foundation publishes report showing a drop of 11 places in Albania’s ranking for economic freedoms since 2013, blaming corruption):
http://www.albaniannews.com/index.php?idm=11227&mod=2
The Tony Blair Institute ( which, as a private limited company should legally be The Tony Blair Institute Limited, and isn’t) has reached critical mass, and is now a regulatory black hole, At its event horizon is this:
http://staging.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/contributors/jacob-olidort
No longer maintained, and for why?
The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s (TBFF) work is now carried out by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.
But the registered name of that company is different, as noted above.
The entity registered as The Tony Blair Governance Initiative (private limited company and charity, also trades as the Africa Governance Initiative, etc, SIC 82990 – Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified, ) submitted a Confirmation Statement in December., but there is as yet no indication that it will be merging with the TBI.
If it does, and it presumably will, the TBI, which is not a charity, will be accounting for the funds of two* charities and of the exclusively political structure promoting globalisation, as well as any other assets and funds it attracts for its widely-defined purposes. If the charities’ own private limited companies are wound up, the entire empire will have one person with significant control (PSC), one Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, rather than the eight or so PSC’s currently running the charities’ companies. Curious.
*Or three. The Tony Blair Sports Foundation seems to be a more honest endeavour, and to have been run from the Northeast, rather than Blair Inc’s London HQ. Blair only matches the (declining) funding it attracts for itself, and it may even have the opportunity to decide its own fate.
Here’s the 2014 return for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (US), a 501c(3) non profit now registered in New York. In which it will be seen that its total functional expenses for the year consisted entirely of its $928,558 (!) operating costs and a $2 million donation. To a charity. To the Tony Blair Faith Foundation in the UK to be exact…
The balance of its $6,567,216 revenue for the year remained in the TBFFUS coffers.
https://pp-990.s3.amazonaws.com/2015_10_EO/26-2102301_990_201412.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAI7C6X5GT42DHYZIA%2F20170217%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20170217T131923Z&X-Amz-Expires=1800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=4f3c108a9591ec56e3d55325957730fb3594ee6e0dab2a0967cbbd330e5e44bd
We may explore this relationship further.
Apologies: the above link doesn’t work for the hoi polloi. The Form 990 is however linked from here (click on Download box for 2014):
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/262102301
Taking that as a starting point, let’s look at the corresponding accounts for TBFF(UK) – a separate UK company.
In 2013, its unrestricted income, from voluntary donors, ‘charitable activities’ and interest, was £910K and restricted was £1711K. (‘Charitable activities’ do not appear in subsquent years on the credit side)
In 2014, its unrestricted donor income was £1095K, and restricted was £1876K, inclusive of interest applicable
In 2015, its unrestricted donor income was £1922K, and restricted was £2145K (ditto)
Source: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06198959/filing-history
The sole source of income listed at Companies House was donor income, for both years. There was an overall increase in this of just under £1m between 2014 and 2015, and no separate mention of the kind donation made by the TBFF(US) in 2014. Indeed, only the restricted donor income for 2015 is large enough to cover it, but this is not greatly in excess of either of the previous two years’ take under the same category.
So where did that £2M go? We are intrigued.
Ho hum…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4247702/Tony-Blair-blasted-giving-1m-Gunatanamo-Briton.html
I think we should record this as as an instance of good intentions blowing up in Tony’s face. It’s even possible that if Fiddler had been extracted from the tender mercies of the Guantanamo staff more quickly, he would have had less reason to despise Western values, but it’s a hard call. And then there’s the compensation:
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, who revealed details of the settlement in the Commons in November 2010, said the deal was confidential but necessary.
A legal battle would have laid bare the depth to which Tony Blair’s Labour Government was complicit in rendition and torture – but the Tory-led coalition made clear that it wanted to avoid a court case which would have cost up to £50million.
Significant.
Footnote, in interests of a fair hearing (which Fiddler didn’t get):
http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/response-to-jamal-al-harith-story/
Yes, the Mail is guilty of hypocrisy, but we don’t recall Blair in his pomp criticising Murdoch’s rags on that issue.
And no, the issue of a British citizen being imprisoned in degrading conditions without trial by a foreign power doesn’t seem to enter into Blair’s thinking. He tacitly condoned Guantanamo, and everything that went on there.
One-all.
Contrary to the implication in Blair’s apologia, the Mail makes it very clear that the Tories, not Blair’s government, awarded the compensation. Blair does not address the question of why, for which the Mail’s explanation, quoted above, seems absolutely credible, and which he does not contradict. Once a lawyer, always a lawyer.
While all media print the latest Press Release Of Tony Blair, Dear Leader And Saviour, asserting that the Daily Mail had ascribed to Him the compensation payment made to exploded jihadi convert Fiddler, and fail to notice that the Mail article itself had correctly ascribed the payment to the Tories, while its erroneous headline had been withdrawn from the Mail Online’s site, with apologies, we’re probably getting too serious here. Time for some humour here.
“Tony Blair Ltd”, in Leeds, is just one of 689 companies of which one Marc Feldman is a director. We think this is the same Marc Feldman who in 2010 was convicted of fraud involving an apparently fake trading company. Morphic resonance or what? The Supreme Pontificator’s name is now immortally coupled with The Genral’s (sic) Chop Shop, Sexy FM Ltd, Sachs (sic) Coburg Ltd and Comic Con FM Ltd – and that’s just scratching the surface.
Legal disclaimer: Not even we believe Blair has anything to do with this commercial empire. But we can’t rule it out completely.
Three out of the four directors shared by Windrush Ventures Ltd, Firerush Ventures Ltd, Windrush Ventures No.1 Ltd and Firerush Ventures No.1 Ltd, are now directors of Tony Blair Institute aka The Tony Blair Institute for Globalisation. Lyon (Bircham Dyson Bell) Rimmer (His Holiness’ chief of staff) and Searancke (His Strategic Director, multiple other interests).Tony Himself completes the quota of four, and this is a first. He has never been a director of any of the Windrush/Firerush companies. And, as already noted, he is the only PSC of TBI. Otherwise, in corporate terms, the change appears more cosmetic than real.
The Orifice of Tony Blair has now published His tribute to the late Sir Gerald Kaufman, despite the latter’s persistent contradiction of the then Quartet Representative (H.E. the Right Honourable ACL Blair) on the questions of Israeli land theft, Operation Cast Lead and Palestinian autonomy. The Orifice of Tony Blair has put aside such differences and wishes to be remembered only as Sir Gerald’s best mate.
(All editors please copy and paste)
Just a little spin, and Tony’s a hero…
In July 2006, Blair claimed:
Obesity is rising rapidly. 1 in 4 adults and children in the UK is obese, and rising.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/jul/26/health.politics
But in 2006, they weren’t and it wasn’t. Obesity among 11-15-year olds peaked at 25% in 2004, and fell to around 17% by the date of the speech. Obesity among 2-10-year-olds peaked at ~17% in 2005, and had fallen to just over 15% by the next year. The trend was already downwards. By 2004, adult obesity had risen to 24% (more in Scotland), and continued to rise uninterruptedly thereafter, reaching 25% for both sexes only in 2014. Apart from an anomalous low point in 2012 for 2-to-10’s, child obesity remained roughly flat during the same period.
https://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/adult_obesity/UK_prevalence_and_trends
http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/child_obesity/UK_prevalence
So what effect did this have?
We are forming a new partnership with industry and the voluntary sector to prevent obesity in children under 11. Forty Stakeholders from food manufacturing, food retailing, NGO and physical activity sector have been developing this approach. This will now extend to encompass broadcasters, the video game industry and leading employers with large occupational health programmes. (2006)
He had a year to get this going, and Brown should have continued it…but in the stats there is no visible impact whatever. Did the Dear Leader spot what he thought was a downward trend, claim the credit and then quietly get off when it failed to continue?
Assuming the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee meets to look at the Libya affair at roughly six-month intervals, we must be just about due another session. In October, we witnessed Jack Straw’s memory in full retreat –
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/northern-ireland-affairs-committee/hm-government-support-for-uk-victims-of-ira-attacks-that-used-gaddafisupplied-semtex-and-weapons/oral/42258.html
Selfless of him, since he could be in line for compensation himself (Little-known FACT: In my case, I was equally concerned as a member of Cabinet and, as I said, I had a small scar on my backside to remind me about PIRA terrorism and, much more importantly, the trauma that I suffered at that bombing. )
Clever use of the victim card, there, Jack. And shielding Tony every inch of the way.
Will Tobias Ellwood’s earlier recommendation (NIAC, 22 Mar, 2016) to hold Blair’s fingers to the fire be heeded this time? And, in view of Tony’s previous, loftily expressed, reluctance to provide either answers to written questions or a sight of his crumbling mug in committee, how many wild horses will it take to get him there?
Watch this space…
Another one bit the dust. Spam filter needs cleaning?
Central to the difficulty Craig is having today, in speaking to Leeds University about, among other things, [censored]*, it is worth noting, perhaps, that the International Hol*****st Remembrance Association was originally founded for just that, and only turned its attention to criticism of [censored] much later, under the umbrella of defeating anti[censored]
Nevertheless, it is relevant to Blair Miles that Tony was in at the birth of the IHJA, along with Bill Clinton. Both were invited by the then Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson to help set it up in 1998. Although it was then a rather worthier organisation than it is now, and although the extent of his personal involvement is unclear, we can confidently state that the principle of suppressing free speech – and if possible thought – remains one of his priorities. Reminder:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/take-it-from-this-censored-fan-of-yours-tony-blair-making-ho*****st-denial-illegal-would-be-your-10309651.html
(You will need to fill some gaps in that URL yourselves)
*in the Middle East
The Spokesperson and Flakcatcher of Tony Blair has apparently denied reports. enthusiastically broken in the Mail on Sunday, and picked up by RT and others, that he is engaged in talks with Jared Kushner aimed at becoming Trump’s or Kushner’s Middle East Advisor/Envoy/Saviour.
Here is the Spokesperson’s denial:
http://www.itv.com/news/2017-03-05/former-pm-tony-blair-seeking-role-as-donald-trumps-middle-east-envoy/
The story in the Mail on Sunday is an invention. Mr Blair has made no such ‘pitch’ to be the President‘s Middle East envoy. Neither has he had any discussions about taking such a role or any role working for the new President.
He has been working on the peace process for 10 years. He continues to do so. He does so in a private capacity. He will continue to do it in that way. Period.
– The Office of Tony Blair
http://www.itv.com/news/2017-03-05/former-pm-tony-blair-seeking-role-as-donald-trumps-middle-east-envoy/
The Spokesperson etc. of Tony Blair has not denied that Blair has engaged in talks with Kushner, nor that he has done so three times since September. He has not denied that Blair is looking for a role, not from Trump, but from Kushner. For Blair, what is neither confirmed nor denied, intentionally, is usually the key to understanding his intentions.
So we wonder what earthshaking initiative is under way. Could it be a cunning anti-Brexit move, in accordance with everything Blair has uttered since before the referendum? Trump is as much pro-Brexit as Nigel Farage, who is recently reported as having been provided with a Washington ersatz embassy by Arron Banks: Kushner, in the role of Is***l’s protector, may well have other views. That country benefits from the EU as much as the US in business terms. Or, Blair, notoriously a Clinton toady, can’t have much traction with the Trump administration per se. Perhaps he is offering the expertise on good governance which has consolidated the positions of charmers like Kagam, Sisi and Nazarbayev? Hardly needed; Trump’s secure until the GOP decides it’s had enough of him. But Kushner might have his eye on the throne…
As accurately foreshadowed above, the TBFF is transferring its activities to the not-for-profit Tony Blair Institute…
http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/foundation/contact
Will it remain a registered charity? Will the TBI become a registered charity? (it’s a limited company, its sole PSC is Anthony Blair, and it’s function is SIC code 85590 – Other education not elsewhere classified) Will the Governance Initiative – that redistributer of international aid money and attractor of favoured corporations to African mineral resources – join the TBFF under the company’s umbrella? Will anyone, anywhere, ever be able to see its accounts?
To where will Tony be relocating when his UAE-funded lease runs out in October? Will the Cherie Blair Foundation for Ladies in Suits share the building? Omnia Strategy too?
So many questions…further details to follow.
It’s not too late to apply to Tony for a job: Philanthropy and Partnerships Officer & Business Development Manager (Institutional),
at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which is perhaps not wholly separate from the Tony Blair Institute, but is not listed as a company in its own distinct right. The job is advertised until the 15th March on the CharityJob website, but we cannot find either the TBI nor the TBIfGC listed as a charity at this time.
Blair put in an appearance at the elite-thronged unveiling of the London monument to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, to the fury of the families of servicemen who didn’t return from either war. They weren’t invited. The emerging elite line is that the memorial isn’t actually to the dead, but some kind of celebration of their military virtues. Fair enough, we reluctantly suppose. It’s technically sustainable as an excuse, although tactless to say the least. But where is the actual monument to the dead? Is there one? It didn’t make the news if there is.
FAKE NEWS? Er, no, actually, says the State Department
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4305220/Blair-did-offer-help-Trump-Middle-East.html
Despite the strenuous denial so worded as to make it look that Tony wasn’t in the least interested in pimping his dubious contacts list to the White House, that is apparently exactly what he was doing. Once a pathological liar, always a pathological liar.
Yes, Tony has lots of Arab friends. Who pay him. No, Tony knows fuck-all about bringing peace to ******-Palestine. He couldn’t do it in nine years, and wasn’t in fact charged with doing it. NSA, if you’re monitoring this, please note and inform the boss…Kerry’s a lot nearer the problem, if less popular over there. And works harder.
Confirmation, if it were needed, that Tony’s dismantling ‘his’ charities and reincorporating them – not as charities, in his new cash fortress, Tony Blair Institute aka Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Which is not a charity, not accountable to the Charities Commission, a single member company, and run solely by His Charitableness.
http://www.africagovernance.org/article/letter-ceo
Lacking any hints to the contrary, the Business Activities of Tony Blair will apparently be taking place under the same umbrella as the Philanthropy of Tony Blair. HMRC’s position on this would be interesting to know. However, it’s certainly a positive that the Blair agenda – ‘making globalisation work’ is now up front and en clair, while the pretence that ‘his’ charities were anything other than highly political instruments for channeling other peoples’ development money to dodgy projects can be quietly dropped, along with the charities.
We once again draw the attention of interested parties to TBI’s articles of association, a bespoke production which may be found appended to the incorporation document here (click ‘filing history’ >Incorporation, scroll to the end of the forms section)):
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10505963/filing-history
Section 3, which permits TBI to do anything it pleases, and Section 11, which enables its directors to laugh happily when conflicts of interest are alleged to arise, are of particular interest.
And the TBFF’s charitable status also ends: …the Foundation will monitor the assets which have been transferred, and then will be wound up and dissolved as a charitable entity.
http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/foundation/news/statement-uk-trustees
Nothing on the entirely separate US-registered charity, TBFFUS, though.
Tony has dubbed himself Executive Chairman of this aid-diverting, political-lobbying, endlessly talking, omniumgatherum. But, if there is a Chairman, shouldn’t there also be a Board? Apparently not. HE reigns supreme. Praise!
Meanwhile, in a desert kingdom far away Cherie was the guest, paid, we imagine, of Alwaleed Philanthropies (AP), chaired by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz AlSaud, at an expensive bash to seal an innovative new partnership with Thomson Reuters Foundation focused on empowering Saudi female journalists.(snip)
Guest of honour, Cherie Blair, CBE, QC, Barrister, Lecturer, Head of Cherie Blair Foundation, and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, gave a speech on the economic and social contribution by women when empowered. Additionally, she defined what she referred to as the crucial ingredients for success – namely confidence, capability and access to capital.
http://www.albiladdailyeng.com/alwaleed-philanthropies-partners-with-thomson-reuters/
We would have thought the absence of prevailing social norms drawing inspiration from the Book of Leviticus would also be pretty key, Cherie. Women journalists could benefit from being allowed to drive*, wear nice clothes or even to go out unaccompanied, we also feel. Still, look out for deals involving legal advice,mobile phones, Exxon, Renault cars or Arnault luxury goods. Cherie will be glad to discuss your needs – she’s empowered to.
*
http://saudiwomendriving.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/syrian-woman-caught-driving-car-in.html
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As the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee continues to fail to get Tony to talk to it (hint: offer him £200K and he’ll maybe consider it)
The long-running campaign by UK victims of Libyan-backed IRA bombings to pass a bill in parliament for financial compensation was dealt a new blow today, being vetoed in the Commons by a government whip, despite having passed in the House of Lords.
In what looks like a moment of desperation, an obscure parliamentary procedure was invoked to kill off the Asset Freezing (Compensation) Bill, a cross-party private members bill, which targets the £9.5 million that Gaddafi held in the UK before his death. No explanation for the intervention was given, just a single word; “object”
https://sluggerotoole.com/2017/03/08/asset-freezing-compensation-bill-vetoed/
In December 2015, Blair wrote to the NI Affairs Committee to say that compensation for victims of Libyan-backed IRA attacks was never raised with him. Further, he said, victims were already looked after. “And of course a statutory compensation scheme for victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland was already in existence, having been set up by a previous government. The needs of victims were therefore being addressed through the existing structures and mechanisms.”
Given that British victims say that they have never heard of such a scheme, let alone benefitted from it, what’s Blair’s game? Is he making an implicit threat?
There is, however, no record of a December, 2015 letter from Blair on NIAC’s website: this is a reporting error. In fact the quoted Words Of Tony Blair are to be found in his written evidence*, published January 2016. His letters to NIAC confine themselves to petulance and resentment at the possibility of being questioned, declining a personal appearance. All here:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/northern-ireland-affairs-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/hm-government-support/publications/
And now it seems the present government is complicit in obscuring the facts, too.
Lawyers for the victims, McCue & Partners, have been critical in the past of Blair’s agenda-setting prestidigitation – unsurprisingly, given McCue’s own part in securing a promise to pay from Libya’s transitional government back in April 2011. The firm is particularly troubled by Blair’s insistence that Libyan-IRA Semtex compensation was a separate issue to that of Lockerbie victims and the family of Yvonne Fletcher. “Why is there so much secrecy surrounding this issue? The victims deserve to know the truth,” it said.
The UK government spent thirty years fighting to preserve both what it saw as its constitutional validity and the safety of its British citizens, so why is it now ignoring the latter, in order to maintain the cloud of unknowing over Northern Irish affairs?
*Summarisable as, “It wasn’t me, everything’s fine, leave me alone”
This (the second Commons reading of the Bill) is not the first time it’s been blocked, despite its unopposed passage through the Lords:
There was widespread shock at the response of the Government when the Minister indicated that one of the main reasons for not touching the £9.5billion of Gaddafi/Libyan money frozen in London was that the human rights of the Gaddafi family and other named persons on the United Nations list could be infringed by what the Government called demands to pay ‘extortionate compensation’ and that they would be unable therefore to exercise ‘enjoyment of property in Article 1 Protocol 1 of the EHCR.’
“The irony of that statement was lost on the Government, and as the statement was made in front of 15 victims from all over the UK who were in the public gallery, it was a cruel blow to a group of people who have been hoping for proper recognition for years.
(June 15th, 2016: http://uup.org/news/4312/Government-response-to-Libyan-compensation-Bill-a-cruel-blow-Lord-Empey )
Evidently the government’s support of human rights for Gaddafi was abandoned, or it wouldn’t have got a Commons reading at all. The Bill was moved there by Andrew Rosindell, a staunch Tory Brexiteer, which makes it all the more surprising that it was hit over the head with a little-used procedure on a Tory whipped vote. Details as they occur.
It could happen again, says the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee ….
The committee also noted the “seriousness” of the case made by Dr Glen Rangwala, a Cambridge University politics lecturer, that Mr Blair “deliberately misled” the Commons.
It said Sir John Chilcot, who led the Iraq enquiry, “believes that there was no personal and demonstrable decision by the then prime minister to deceive Parliament or the public”.
However, it concluded: “Should further evidence, beyond the Chilcot report, come to light that supports Dr Rangwala’s arguments, the House may wish to refer this matter to the Privileges Committee to take further.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-iraq-invasion-war-2003-uk-prime-minister-no-checks-uk-prime-minister-chilcot-inquiry-mps-a7631936.html
Further evidence might be obtained by subjecting Alastair Campbell, and the scores of unaccountable Blair advisors who have gone on to fill lucrative sinecures, to the stress position and waterboarding. Otherwise we see little hope of Tony’s trip to the Hague.
Probably better to concentrate on other aspects of his career, as we are doing.
Loads from Tony today, possibly timed to coincide with Osborne’s new job with Lehasbedev’s Standard…it will be remembered by some that it was aboard Lebedev’s private jet that Tony materialised in Nigeria wearing his AGI hat, followed by a quick change into arms-dealer mode before meeting Buhari. Alas, Buhari saw through him.
Today’s outpourings from Tony (all papers) concern the undesirability of Brexit (yawn) and the frighteningness of populism. On Tuesday he will be enthralling BBC R4 listeners with his analysis of why (his) centrism is in difficulties; as yet he has not yet realised how far to the right his centrism moved British politics, nor centrism’s responsibility for the current shambles.
Also today, the Great Centrist opened a new laboratory for Owlstone Medical, in Cambridge. We might buy shares in this company, which makes “medical breathalysers” for non-invasive diagnosis. It’s so young, yet it can afford Blair’s appearance money and collborate in the long-delayed sanitisation of his toxic image by association with something beneficial. If successful, that would be a clinical first.
Mrs. Blair, having been gazumped by Ellon Musk’s ex in the purchase af an agreeable £3m Marylebone pied-a-terre for daughter Kathryn, will be addressing feminists at Rice U, Houston, on the usual topic, on the 29th. Tickets only.
Blair has wheeled in a German-American* political theorist, a Yasha Mounk, to front renewal of the trampled, polluted and sterile “centre ground” (it’s over there, through the Overton Window, a couple of miles Right of where it was pre-Blair).
Pious aspirations:
we need to identify the policies that can actually counteract the drivers of discontent. Liberal democracy will only be secure if most people once again feel that the future holds promise for them, that their fate is under their control, and that their communities will flourish. …whether or not, as under Blair, any of that is actually true. Feeling being the priority. Still, there’s a slight divergence from Blair already. Where Blair wants to educate the voters, Mounk seems at least prepared to let the voters educate the politicians.
http://www.transatlanticacademy.org/press-release/%5Bfield_press_date-date%5D/yascha-mounk-direct-research-tony-blair-institute-global-chang
It was to be expected that Blair’s latest show pony wouldn’t be Muslim, and he isn’t:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/books/how-yascha-mounk-grew-up-a-stranger-in-my-own-country.html?_r=0
*He appears to have abandoned the EU, then.
The Tony Blair Institute is to swallow up his charities – they are in the process of incorporation into a single company limited by guarantee. We have already been topld that Blair’s former commercial companies’ cash will be or has been transferred to this entity. Less clarity is visible as to what happens to the charities’ assets.
Since TBI is a single company, with a single controlling party – Blair – it doesn’t look likely that separate accounts will be kept for whatever is left of TBFF and AGI. So we must hope that money donated to TBFF, say, with the intention of teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony, doesn’t find its way into, oh, a press campaign aimed at demonising Brexit, mustn’t we? For that would resemble obtaining money under false pretences.
We don’t have a current figure for the two charities later than 2015, but it seems certain that they were very far from broke when the decision was taken to dismantle them. And there’s (December 2015) $11.5 million of assets held by TBFFUS – originally registered in Connecticut – intriguingly tax-exempt under the broad heading of international agricultural development (Q31), and very supportive of the UK arm ( see https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/02/an-apology/comment-page-37/#comment-656428 , too)
Currently –
https://www.citizenaudit.org/organization/262102301/
Is this, with its assets, to be part ofTBI too? Or, in the crucial period before the December 2016 accounts, did it again contribute to TBFF UK? Do its donors know? Should the Charity Commission – and the US IRS -be taking a long hard look at this? Informed opinion wiould be welcomed.
Conflicting news:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4337890/Martin-McGuinness-don-t-care-history-judges-me.html
Tony Blair and Theresa May will not attend Martin McGuinness’s funeral amid a huge security clampdown – but former US President Bill Clinton will be there.
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/politics/former-president-bill-clinton-ex-10078221
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to attend, and he will be joined by Irish President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
One fake, one absorutery tlue! Which fake? Which tlue? Prace bets now!
No, no, seriously. Given that Blair’s claimed credit for the NI settlement ever since Powell, Mowlem and Hain completed Major’s initiative, you’d think he’d be there to shed a crocodile tear or two, along with the taxpayer-funded security team he never travels without, to take any stray bullets from the volley fired over the grave. As a Catholic, he’d be right at home with the ritual, and he could probably make a few useful contacts among Irish businessmen too.
Inexplicable that he should niot be there. Mystic Ba’al suspects he will, and that the Orifice’s statement that he won’t is simply designed to throw an old lizard off the scent. The powerful and unattractive scent.
Not a cheep from Tony yet on the subject of the Westminster murders. Maybe he’s under security lockdown, or can’t find an onion. (Old Eye readers will know what I mean)
Ghana is restraining its delight at hearing that he will be blairing at their Institute of Economic Affairs next week –
https://www.facebook.com/ieagh/photos/a.807961679244184.1073741825.233456906694667/1623659231007754/?type=3&theater
The (now defunct) AGI affirms that achieving effective government will drastically change the lives of African citizens
The IEA is somewhat at odds with the ruling party, however, and its influence may not be enormous in achieving the ‘transformative change’ Blair usually advocates without being so unwise as to specify what that might mean.
Though what he means by effective government usually involves private education, the sale or mortgage of any remaining state assets to global corporations, and the destruction of rural communities.
An intriguing snippet from Xexish Insider (the link would foul the spam filter, sorry):
Former Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair will address AIPAC’s Policy Conference during a Sunday morning session alongside Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer. Blair reportedly courted WH Senior Advisor Jared Kushner to become Trump’s envoy on the Xraeli-Palestinian peace process. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed last week that Blair has offered to help Trump win a peace deal… and the WH had “taken his approach seriously.”
Though there is no mention of Tony Blair on the conference site’s impressive array of confirmed speakers which includes VicePres Pence and assorted old-skool neocons. Evidently his status has slipped or his toxicity increased.
Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who is emerging as one of Xrael’s most reliable toadies. is advertised there, however. Kagame and Blair admire each other unhealthily – though on his last Kigali outing, Blair was treated a little distantly by Kagame – and it is to be hoped that after charming the giant US lobby group on Sunday, the pair will share a flight to Rwanda, en (Blair’s) route to Ghana.for Tuesday.
On the ‘Religion’ shelf of your local chain bookseller, you may find this:
http://www.lybrary.com/the-bartender-a-fable-about-a-journey-p-840370.html
No, it’s not about Tony’s autobiography, ‘A Journey’ – at least not overtly. It’s by one Michael McNichols, who teaches faith ‘n’ stuff at an evangelical seminary in California, and he’s trying to do CS Lewis’ concealment of dubious metaphysics in a literary teaspoon of sugar, as far as we can see.
A very similar looking tome is this:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-bartenders-assistant/tony-blair/9781608995554
Whether it is really by our beloved ex-PM, or whether he has merely attached his name to it, we have no way of knowing. But as McNichols elsewhere highlights his work in ‘education, business and the ministry.’, we can see a certain commonality of interest. Why anyone would need a guide, which Blair’s work purports to be, to remainder fodder aimed at the firmly converted, is anybody’s guess, that guess focusing on big-name appeal regardless of content, but no doubt McNichols is grateful for the mensh. And Tony’s credentials as Saviour receive a small but welcome boost, too.
Education, business and the ministry, indeed.
The xionist hawk media such as Arutz Sheva and Algemeiner were very quick to hear Tony’s latest dogwhistle on Iran:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227309
Summarised:
1. Non-sequitur: If Iran were nice, everything would be wonderful, so ‘we’ need to be as hostile as possible to Iran, always assuming that Tony isn’t personally in any danger. Note that ‘we’. Tony is talking to AIPAC…’us’.
In order to convey the impression that he was in some way vaguely interested in the Palestinians’ fate, he added,
2. Reverse ferret: ‘We’ need a new approach. A tacit admission that his previous approach was wrong, and useless. And (what insight!) ‘we’ must talk to the Palestinians. (After you, says Bibi.)
Wonder if he’s talking to David Davis….
“Tony Blair – the turd that won’t flush”
In the context of Pie’s thoughts on George Osborne:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVWFUmB_mQY
He speaks for multitudes.