Tony Blair: Peace Maker or Deal Maker?

This morning brings the remarkable news that Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has gone to work as a part time consultant for the huge JP Morgan investment bank, at a salary estimated at a million dollars a year.

What I find remarkable is not so much the news as the apparent lack of reaction to it.

It's not just a question of a British leader leaving his nation's top office for employment in a sprawling company with worldwide interests -- everyone does that these days -- but the fact that Blair is doing it -- while at the same time continuing official duties in a very sensitive and financially key part of the world.

Blair is not being hired by Morgan for his economic skills, which were never impressive. As JP Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon announced frankly, "There are only a handful of people in the world who have the knowledge and relationships that he has." Such relationships are key to Blair's current official duties.

Thanks to pressure from his friend George Bush, Blair was handed a very sensitive assignment: Middle East envoy working on behalf of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU. Though supposedly focused on Palestinian development, Blair's activities necessarily involve top level contacts with leaders throughout the world, particularly the leaders of the Middle East, leaders flush with trillions of dollars in assets, leaders making enormous deals and investments around the globe -- the kind of deals that are Morgan's bread and butter.

Is it not conceivable there might be a slight conflict of interest, at least a whiff of impropriety, in Blair's twin roles as peace maker and deal maker? When Blair's diplomatic appointment was announced, many in the Middle East and elsewhere questioned the former PM's ability to act as an honest broker in the region because of his unequivocal support for George Bush in the war in Iraq, and failing to call for a halt to the Israeli bombing of Lebanon last summer. They had a point.

Blair's million dollar job with J.P Morgan provides skeptics with further ammunition.

Comments

[Vajara]

Seems that Tony has always been an opportunist and took deals that would eventually benefit him economically so that he could join the millionaires club. All who joined with Bush on the Iraq war have benefited financially from this debacle and the Big Lies. I don't believe that they can ever wash the blood from their conscience until they admit their fear, ignorance and greed for money and power.

[Macready]

"Is it not conceivable there might be a slight conflict of interest, at least a whiff of impropriety, in Blair's twin roles as peace maker and deal maker?"

don't forget the "cash for peerages" scandal . . . bliar is all about getting as much money for himself as he possibly can -- he has to pay mortgages on 5 houses and cherrie well she is all about greed . . . he was the worst PM in modern British history . . he is a wheeler dealer and a war criminal . . . hopefully he will be where he belongs sooner rather than later in the dock at the Hague along with his buddies the chimp and the big dick.

[Purple Girl]

Why do we allow these multi National Corps to get away with crimes which effect numerous people around the world. If these companies want to claim US reputations an dfly our flag in front of the various Headquarters around th eworld- they must meet OUR standards. Otherwise it is infringement on our 'product' line & symbol. these are the HYDRAs of our times. We need to lop off thes eheads of these beasts for once & for all. You either fly right or we will bring crimal charges against you. We will NOT use our resources, reputation or blood to defend your companies interests- if those intersts are detrimental to Our Interests and against our Philososphies! Go to BFE and do business-we will still be world leaders without you! so run but you will not be able to hide. CAVE ADSUM!

[Halsey]

Tony Blair..at one point I found myself wishing he was our President.­..he seemed so very approachable and level-head­ed...now..­.unless in addition to his conversion to Catholicism he also had a vision of himself as...well rich...he must have always been the man who now (like so many Mexican presidents­)...end up very wealthy after being a head of state...

Of course there's a conflict of interest..­and he should immediately "quit" the role W gave him..and just be honest.."h­e's in it for the money"...

[raptor]

Well, he was a good friend of Bill's during that presidency.

[texastornado]

Deal maker of course. Anybody that goes around with a perpetual smile like a televangelist is a con artist.

[scampy123]

Blair may be hoping J P Morgan will fund his Iraq war crimes trial at the Hague.

[richardrad]

Poor Tony. One million bucks. Is that all the lad gets? At current exchange rates isn't that a poverty wage in Pounds?

[BobSF94117]

Since his "relationships" are purely the result of the office he held, shouldn't the $1,000,000 go to the British government? Surely, they should at least get a finder's fee...

[outnow]

After seeing the movie, Amazing Grace, about the abolition of slavery in England, you realize that the entire Anglo-American legacy is more about money that liberty. I listened intently to Tony Blair's Philippic speeches in the run-up to the Iraqi war, and compared the facts, as known to him at the time, to those facts documented the Downing Street Memo. Mr. Blair was clear at the time that there were no WMDs, only abundant oil in Iraq to be had for the taking.

It is clear that Mr. Blair represents neither labor nor truth, rather he represents the interests of a narrowly defined group of wealthy people who are aligned with other similarly situated factions within our own government and business communities.

As the history of England and its Kings and Queens makes abundantly clear, England is and always has been a society based on class. "Londonistan," as a phenomenon, resulted from the colonial nature of the failed empire.

Tony Blair is emblematic of the system that spawned him. making him envoy to a situation he doesn't even appreciate is to again elevate the Lord Balfours of the realm beyond their capacity to resist the unworkable future thrust upon third-world peoples such as the Palestinians. When duty calls, and that usually means money, the British are quick to respond, keeping a stiff upper lip. How like the British we are. Yes, we wrap the facts around the policy. That is where our conflicts-­of-interes­t come in. Which hand carries the most money?