Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that it is only the people of Britain which don't like him and that he is much more popular abroad.
Blair, who was PM between May 1997 and June 2007 and who converted to Catholicism when he quit the job, blamed the British press for his domestic image and also defended his decision to become a Middle East peace envoy after he quit as PM.
Today it was claimed that staff at one of his businesses, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, were treated to a Christmas party at celebrity hangout Mahiki last week.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Blair hired the Mayfair nightclub at an estimated cost of £10,000 to treat 200 of his employees to the lavish bash.
Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party, came to power in May 1997 after winning by a landslide, ending 18 years of Tory rule. That was Labour's first general election victory since the strange year of 1974 when Britain had two general elections. He was Labour's longest-serving PM in history, the only person to have led the Labour Party to three consecutive general election victories (1997, 2001, 2005) and the only Labour Prime Minister to serve consecutive terms.
Tony Blair: It's only in Britain that people don't like me
By Daily Mail Reporter
20th December 2009
Daily Mail
Tony Blair has defended his second career after he left politics
Tony Blair has claimed it is only in the UK that he is disliked and that he is much more popular abroad.
The former Prime Minister has blamed the British press for his image at home and has defended his lucrative second career that has netted him millions since he quit politics.
In an interview in today's Sunday Times Mr Blair said: 'It’s not true that nobody likes me. Reading the papers in Britain, you’d end up thinking I’d lost three elections rather than won them.
'There is a completely different atmosphere around me outside the country. People accept the work that you are doing, as it is.
'They don’t see anything wrong with being successful financially and also doing good work.'
'If I did what these people who criticise me here wanted, I'd end up sitting in a corner, but that is never going to be me.'
Mr Blair also defended his globe-trotting work and money-making activities, describing himself as a 'social entrepreneur'.
'You get to a position where the criticism you get, you just have to live with. It’s the way it is,' he said.
'When you are someone like me, you create a lot of controversy one way or another. You just decide to do what you are going to do and let that speak for itself.'
Today it was claimed that staff at one of his businesses, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, were treated to a Christmas party at celebrity hangout Mahiki last week.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Blair hired the Mayfair nightclub at an estimated cost of £10,000 to treat 200 of his employees to the lavish bash.
The party, at which staff reportedly drank the club's famous £100 'Treasure Chest' cocktails, was a far cry from the rather more low-key events when Mr Blair was Prime Minister.
But in the interview Mr Blair was entirely unapologetic at the money he has made since he left office.
And he blamed his negative image in Britain on the press, saying: 'They don’t approach me in an objective way.
'Their first question is how to belittle what I’m doing, knock it down, write something bad about it. It’s not right. It’s not journalism.
'They don’t get me and they’ve got a score to settle with me. But they are not going to settle it.'
Since leaving office in 2007 after a decade in power, Mr Blair has divided his time between unpaid humanitarian work and professional consultancy and advisory roles for banks and governments in the Middle East and Africa in particular.
Tony Blair in his role as Middle East envoy in Gaza City this year
He has also set up a Faith Foundation and earns money giving after-dinner speeches.
The 'trick' is to make issues such as government, business, environment and religion work together to help bring about positive changes, according to Mr Blair.
The father-of-four said: I'm a social entrepreneur now.
'I can engineer social change on my own terms, outside of a big government bureaucracy.'
The 56-year-old told the paper he is out of the country three weeks out of four, with a base in Jerusalem for his work as a representative to the quartet of major powers in the region - the US, EU, UN and Russia.
He said he missed son Leo, nine, and could not remember the last time he took his wife, Cherie, out for dinner.
But Mr Blair said he would have 'gone crazy' if he had spent time lying on a beach after stepping down as prime minister so he started work in the Middle East just a week later.
'My motto is: don't retire, don't expire,' he said.
'I got out out politics early enough to have a second act in life. Why shouldn't a politician be able to do that? Others do.
'Nobody says Bill Gates is bad for moving from business to philanthropy.
'Why shouldn't a politician do a business model when they change their life?'
Mr Blair told the paper he could make 'five times' as many speeches if he wanted to focus on that.
Mr Blair, who will spend Christmas with his family at their home in Buckinghamshire, is due to appear before the Iraq Inquiry in the New Year.
dailymail.co.uk
Blair, who was PM between May 1997 and June 2007 and who converted to Catholicism when he quit the job, blamed the British press for his domestic image and also defended his decision to become a Middle East peace envoy after he quit as PM.
Today it was claimed that staff at one of his businesses, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, were treated to a Christmas party at celebrity hangout Mahiki last week.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Blair hired the Mayfair nightclub at an estimated cost of £10,000 to treat 200 of his employees to the lavish bash.
Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party, came to power in May 1997 after winning by a landslide, ending 18 years of Tory rule. That was Labour's first general election victory since the strange year of 1974 when Britain had two general elections. He was Labour's longest-serving PM in history, the only person to have led the Labour Party to three consecutive general election victories (1997, 2001, 2005) and the only Labour Prime Minister to serve consecutive terms.
Tony Blair: It's only in Britain that people don't like me
By Daily Mail Reporter
20th December 2009
Daily Mail
Tony Blair has defended his second career after he left politics
Tony Blair has claimed it is only in the UK that he is disliked and that he is much more popular abroad.
The former Prime Minister has blamed the British press for his image at home and has defended his lucrative second career that has netted him millions since he quit politics.
In an interview in today's Sunday Times Mr Blair said: 'It’s not true that nobody likes me. Reading the papers in Britain, you’d end up thinking I’d lost three elections rather than won them.
'There is a completely different atmosphere around me outside the country. People accept the work that you are doing, as it is.
'They don’t see anything wrong with being successful financially and also doing good work.'
'If I did what these people who criticise me here wanted, I'd end up sitting in a corner, but that is never going to be me.'
Mr Blair also defended his globe-trotting work and money-making activities, describing himself as a 'social entrepreneur'.
'You get to a position where the criticism you get, you just have to live with. It’s the way it is,' he said.
'When you are someone like me, you create a lot of controversy one way or another. You just decide to do what you are going to do and let that speak for itself.'
Today it was claimed that staff at one of his businesses, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, were treated to a Christmas party at celebrity hangout Mahiki last week.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Blair hired the Mayfair nightclub at an estimated cost of £10,000 to treat 200 of his employees to the lavish bash.
The party, at which staff reportedly drank the club's famous £100 'Treasure Chest' cocktails, was a far cry from the rather more low-key events when Mr Blair was Prime Minister.
But in the interview Mr Blair was entirely unapologetic at the money he has made since he left office.
And he blamed his negative image in Britain on the press, saying: 'They don’t approach me in an objective way.
'Their first question is how to belittle what I’m doing, knock it down, write something bad about it. It’s not right. It’s not journalism.
'They don’t get me and they’ve got a score to settle with me. But they are not going to settle it.'
Since leaving office in 2007 after a decade in power, Mr Blair has divided his time between unpaid humanitarian work and professional consultancy and advisory roles for banks and governments in the Middle East and Africa in particular.
Tony Blair in his role as Middle East envoy in Gaza City this year
He has also set up a Faith Foundation and earns money giving after-dinner speeches.
The 'trick' is to make issues such as government, business, environment and religion work together to help bring about positive changes, according to Mr Blair.
The father-of-four said: I'm a social entrepreneur now.
'I can engineer social change on my own terms, outside of a big government bureaucracy.'
The 56-year-old told the paper he is out of the country three weeks out of four, with a base in Jerusalem for his work as a representative to the quartet of major powers in the region - the US, EU, UN and Russia.
He said he missed son Leo, nine, and could not remember the last time he took his wife, Cherie, out for dinner.
But Mr Blair said he would have 'gone crazy' if he had spent time lying on a beach after stepping down as prime minister so he started work in the Middle East just a week later.
'My motto is: don't retire, don't expire,' he said.
'I got out out politics early enough to have a second act in life. Why shouldn't a politician be able to do that? Others do.
'Nobody says Bill Gates is bad for moving from business to philanthropy.
'Why shouldn't a politician do a business model when they change their life?'
Mr Blair told the paper he could make 'five times' as many speeches if he wanted to focus on that.
Mr Blair, who will spend Christmas with his family at their home in Buckinghamshire, is due to appear before the Iraq Inquiry in the New Year.
dailymail.co.uk
