Hardback: Since leaving office in 2007, the empire of Tony Blair has grown exponentially.
As a businessman, he has been unprecedentedly successful for a former public servant, with a large property portfolio and an estimated £80 million of earnings accrued in just a few short years. How has he managed to achieve this?
He is the first British prime minister in history whose life after he left power has merited a book of its own. Most people pursue second careers to do more of what they enjoy with less stress. This is not the case with Tony Blair.
He struts the world stage, travelling, for a third of the year, constantly on and off private jets and in and out of splendid hotel suites. He seems confused about his goals and conflicted in his responsibilities and interests.
How comfortable can the businessman in pursuit of excessive wealth be with the Labour Party politician who once protected Thatcher's legacy?
How can the poor of the Middle East rationalise the international salesman, in his expensive suits, his salesman's smile at the ready to greet a dictator or oligarch, with the 'Representative of the Middle East Quartet' supposed to bring investment into the Palestinian economy?
How does he answer the charge of many distinguished public figures that those he solicits for funds for the Palestinians are confused whether he is also seeking funds for Tony Blair and his sponsors and companies?
Being an ex-Prime Minister comes with certain advantages, and besides his excellent state pension and twenty-four-hour security team, Blair enjoys the best contacts that money can buy - as do those willing to pay him for access to those contacts.
Consequently, Tony Blair Associates' clients can be found around the world and include the controversial presidents of Kazakhstan and Burma.
There is also Blair's role as special envoy in the Middle East. While his record as a peacemaker is in doubt, the position has brought him into contact with a variety of oil-rich potentates in the region who now number among his most profitable clients.
Blair Inc: The Man Behind the Mask (2015) takes a close look at the complex financial structures in Blair's world. From the many layers of tax liability to the multiple conflicts of interest produced by his increasing web of relationships, this book exposes the private dealings of this very public figure. and seeks to answer the above questions. The conclusions are both shocking and disturbing for British public life and for the political class that Blair damages.
The story begins on 27 June 2007. That was the day Tony Blair officially resigned as Prime Minister, was appointed Middle East Peace Envoy and set about making himself seriously rich.
About the authors: Francis Beckett is an author, journalist and playwright. His seventeen books include biographies of four Prime Ministers - Attlee, Macmillan, Blair and Brown - and he edited a series of short lives called The Twenty Prime Ministers of the Twentieth Century. He is the author of What Did the Baby Boomers Ever Do For Us? and believes that Tony Blair can only be explained in terms of the sixties and the baby-boomer generation.
David Hencke is an award-winning freelance journalist and author who exposed both the 'cash-for-questions' scandal that led to the resignation of Neil Hamilton from the last Conservative government and the home-loan scandal that led to the first resignation of Peter Mandelson from Tony Blair's government. He is the co-author, with Francis Beckett, of an unauthorised biography of Tony Blair and a history of the 1984 miners' strike. He worked for The Guardian for thirty-three years and now works for a Fleet Street investigative news agency, Exaro News.
Nick Kochan is an independent author and journalist specialising in politics, finance and white collar crime. He is the author (with Hugh Pym) of Gordon Brown, the First Year in Power, Corruption: The New Corporate Challenge and The Washing Machine, a book about money laundering and terrorist finance. Kochan writes freelance for The Independent and The Guardian.
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