TONY BLAIR MAKES $140MILLION FROM HIS WORK WITH GOVT
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair has revealed that his institute is on course to make $140mn in annual revenues and provide advice to more than 40 governments.
The institute is set to make about $140mn in revenues this year, his office said,more than triple the $45mn it recorded in 2020 and up about 16 per cent on 2022. Staff numbers are on their way to quadrupling from 263 people in 2020.
The group makes most of its income from government work, deploying advisers who include Sanna Marin, the former Finnish premier and a recent high-profile recruit.
Its work in Saudi Arabia has drawn the most intense criticism. Blair’s institute was— and still is — providing advice to crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman head of govt in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“A few years ago people challenged us overworking in Saudi Arabia but I have absolutely no doubt that the changes they are making there are of enormous importance socially (!) and economically, in terms of the country and the region (!) and in terms of broader
security (!!),” he said.
Blair says he spends 85 per cent of his time at the institute, which he owns but from which he does not draw a salary. He earns money from private advisory work, speeches and his position as chair of JPMorgan’s international council.
Blair summed up his term as PM in the UK 1997-2007.
“The advantage that Britain had when you had Margaret Thatcher, John Major and then myself was that you had almost 30 years of government with a certain core of policy around the business sector that wasn’t very different,” Blair said.
So continuity with Thatcherism then.
“Now, my government did lots of things in the public realm and implemented social change and all the rest, but we didn’t disturb the basic emphasis of enterprise that Thatcher introduced.”
Indeed. Business as usual.