Blair’s Secret Oil Links Revealed
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Tony Blair’s secret links to Gulf oil giants were revealed today as fresh details emerged of his “carte blanche” support for George Bush’s Iraq war.
The former prime minister has been in the pay of the Kuwaiti government and a South Korean oil firm for up to 18 months, a parliamentary watchdog has revealed.
But the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments allowed Mr Blair to keep his contracts secret because of “market sensitivities” and because the Kuwaitis requested confidentiality.
The Kuwaitis alone paid Blair $1.5 million for his ‘advisory role’ . Blair was at great paind to cover this up and manage to hoodwink the fools in the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. That was until finally after pressure they were discovered for their negligence.
In an unprecedented move, he persuaded the committee which vets the jobs of former ministers to keep details of both deals from the public for 20 months, claiming it was commercially sensitive. The deals emerged yesterday when the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments finally lost patience with Mr Blair and decided to ignore his objections and publish the details.
News of the secret deals fuelled fresh accusations that Mr Blair is ‘cashing in on his contacts’ from the controversial Iraq war in what one MP called ‘revolving door politics at its worst’.
In a further revelation, a classified memo from Mr Blair to President Bush showed the full extent of his support for the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
The personal note — which has been seen by the Chilcot Inquiry but not released by the Government — shows that Mr Blair wrote: “You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.”
The contents of the memo, which is buried in Andrew Rawnsley’s book The End Of The Party, confirm the exact words Mr Blair used to offer his strong backing for Bush in July 2002, eight months before the invasion.
The Chilcot committee was barred from quizzing Mr Blair publicly about the private notes to the US president when he gave evidence in January. Downing Street has refused permission to release the secret documents.
Rawnsley’s book shows that Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain’s ambassador to the US, reacted with astonishment when he saw the note.
He phoned Mr Blair’s foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning, saying: “Why in God’s name has he said that again?”
Sir David replied: “We tried to stop him… but he wouldn’t listen.”
Sources: London Evening Standard Paul Waugh – Deputy Political Editor
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Tags: corruption, gulf oil, kuwait
Category: Blood Money