Tony Blair to boost earnings as paid speaker for Mayfair hedge fund

Source: the guardian

Tony Blair will add to the riches he has made since leaving office after agreeing to become a paid speaker for Lansdowne Partners, a London-based hedge fund managed by a major Tory party donor.

Blair will give some private speeches to staff of the Mayfair-based fund this year, potentially earning him hundreds of thousands of pounds, it has emerged.

The former prime minister's spokesman declined to comment on his fees, although he is reported to earn as much as £180,000 for 90 minutes for his thoughts on geopolitical matters in countries from Spain to the Philippines. That works out at about £2,000 a minute.
...

The move is also controversial because one of the firm's founders, the former Goldman Sachs banker Paul Ruddock, has donated about £260,000 to the Conservative party. The sum is enough to secure him membership of the Tory leader's 100-strong elite donors' club without denting his estimated £350m personal fortune. After his firm sold a 20% stake to Morgan Stanley, Ruddock now carries out some philanthropic jobs, including being the chairman of the board of trustees of the Victoria & Albert museum.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/25/tony-blair-speaker-landsdowne-partners

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"...he is reported to earn as much as £180,000 for 90 minutes for his thoughts on geopolitical matters..."

but here he will give his geopolitical thoughts on iraq for free:

"Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will give evidence to the Iraq inquiry on 29 January, it has been announced.
Mr Blair, the highest profile figure to appear before the panel, will face six hours of questioning."
(bbc, 18 january 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8464689.stm )


and i'm waiting.

nt

If I lived in Britain, I wouldn't have any political party to vote for. I hate the Conservatives, Liberal-Democrats, and now the neo-con Labour party with equal distain.

Disenchantment with mainstream politics is rife over here (especially after the expenses scandal). And that's not a good thing either.

....against people making money? So what. Go make your own!