Tony Blair: global philanthropist or self-interested cheat?

An ironic and cutting article published in the Sunday Telegraph last 27 September, portrays ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair, once the “the man who presided over a government of spin” and his re-invention into “a brilliant, modern-day philanthropist”.

The conservative newspaper’s piece, written by one Robert Mendick, is entitled “Blair Inc: where has all the money gone?”, a not-so-subtle attack on the presumed international money machine the former Labour leader has become.

The article minutely details the extent to which Blair has gone to “rehabilitate himself on the international stage,” after a “seriously dented reputation” following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read on, and you find out that among other things Blair has set up a large scale Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF), has been giving lectures on Globalisation and Faith at Yale university and is a Peace Envoy, representing the UN, the US, Russia and the EU, in the Middle East.

The continuing actual irony behind Blair being a Peace Envoy in a region of the world he arguably contributed to unsettle more is overlooked here.  What is picked up on instead is how much this man is earning, and where this money is going.

However here are a few of the figures.  Peace envoy?  Nothing at all.  Lecturer at Yale?  A contribution to his foundation – presumably very large – but nothing to him.  Now if he was taking money from his own foundation that would be a scoop, but no such details – yet.

Indeed his foundation seems to have become his main focus.  Its theme is faith. It is far from being a narrow promotion of his own faith however, which we learned in 2007 when he moved out of 10 Downing Street and took a trip to Rome for conversion, is strongly catholic based.  Instead it is an inter faith foundation which aims to promote dialogue, respect and understanding between the world’s religions.

To such an extent that if you visit  www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org, you are greeted by a timely message for Yom Kippur; scroll down and you are further met by a message for Navaratri.  It is worth pointing out though that distinctly missing is a similar message for Eid, the Muslim celebration held this year just two days before Navaratri on 20 September.  Perhaps the homepage lacked the page space…

Whichever way, what in fact transpires from the portrait drawn out in the Sunday Telegraph is that Tony Blair is using his global stature to try and do good.  Certainly his contacts and previous job are a huge help in raising funds, it would be astonishing if they weren’t.

The point the article completely missed though is that, while most people at home from all sides of the political spectrum cringe at the mere mentioning of his name, on an international level he is much admired.  

The Americans especially have a serious soft spot for him.  TIME recently mentioned him in an article about charismatic leaders as an example of one who had made one of the best impressions on the US.

This man is not trying to recover from a crushed reputation tied to wars and 40 minute claims, he is taking full philanthropic advantage of a mass international love affair.