Tony Blair 'paid MILLIONS' by UAE while working as Middle East envoy
Getty Tony Blair earned millions of pounds from working as a Middle East peace envoy
The Arab state funded the former Labour prime minister’s office in London and also employed him as a consultant, which they paid millions for. Mr Blair also used a senior Foreign Office official as his chief of staff for his role as official envoy of the Quartet, the international group mediating the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which he took up the same day he resigned as UK leader in 2007. The former Labour leader has faced questions over conflict of interest between his public and private work since taking up the diplomatic role with Quartet, but has always insisted they were kept separate and Quartet staff were not involved in “commercial work”. But he has admitted the UAE paid into the same company for his role as an ‘unpaid special envoy’ to the Middle East and for private consultancy work funded by the UAE for a sovereign wealth fund in the capital, Abu Dhabi.
Mr Blair gave his own time for free but had to raise money for the costs of the staff Tony Blair's spokesman
However, his office claimed the Quartet role was unpaid so any money went towards travel and accommodation for him and his London-based staff and the bank account used for both his roles was purely for “accounting purposes”, with money ring-fenced for specific purposes. Contributions by the Gulf state towards Mr Blair’s Quartet work were never disclosed on the Office of the Quartet Representative website’s funding page which declares income from other sources, including the US, Canadian and British governments. Emails seen by the Telegraph have now revealed a year and a half into the envoy role Nick Banner, Mr Blair’s Quartet chief of staff on loan from the Foreign Office, went to the UAE and met Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the chief executive of Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund Mr Blair began paid consultancy work for the next year. Mr Blair’s office refused to explain what the meeting was about with Mr Al Mubarak, who is also chair of the Abu Dhabi government’s Executive Affairs Authority.
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Mr Banner then arranged talks between UI Energy, a Korean oil company Mr Blair was being paid to advise, and the head of a state-run investment firm in Abu Dhabi. The former Prime Minister told Whitehall’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments the Korean firm was concerned about “market sensitivities” so his work for them was not disclosed for another two years. Emails show before Mr Banner became involved Mr Blair secured then UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s backing to bring the UAE businessmen to talks in August 2008. Mr Blair held countless official meetings with the sheikh in his envoy role.
Mr Banner wrote an email dated August 7, after the UI delegation flew into Abu Dhabi, to a senior UAE official, which said: "Below are details of the UI group. “They're very keen to meet the most senior management of IPIC [The International Petroleum Investment Company], to try to resolve the differences that appear to have risen, for understandable but I think mistaken reasons. "Given there seems to be a mutually beneficial outcome available, Mr Blair is very grateful that Sheikh Abdullah undertook to ensure their meetings could take place." Kyu Sun Choi, UI’s chief executive, was one of the main negotiators in Abu Dhabi and it later emerged he had been imprisoned for two years for bribery. Mr Blair’s office denied Mr Banner flew to Abu Dhabi to arrange the meeting and claimed no such meeting took place.
Getty Tony Blair with Israeli President Shimon Peres as tensions ran high on the Gaza border
In 2015, when Mr Blair stepped down as special envoy, the ex-Labour leader’s office said his Quartet staff were “never involved in commercial work”. However, in 2009, Rebecca Guthrie, another Foreign office official sent to the Quartet office, sent bank details to a UAE official for Windrush Ventures, the company to which payment for Mr Blair’s commercial advisory work was sent to, just days after formal Middle East talks were held between Mr Blair and Sheikh Abdullah at the United Nations in New York. Mr Blair’s office claims she was just passing on the details for travel and accommodations expenses for Quartet work. In 2010, Jason Searancke, financial controller for Tony Blair Associates which deals with all Mr Blair’s commercial work, emailed UAE officials to ask for money for Mr Blair’s “activities as the Quartet representative”. The Telegraph claims to have seen details of a £1.2m payment to Windrush from Sheikh Abdullah’s office in 2011. Other invoices suggest Windrush received at least £8m from the UAE foreign ministry for work in Colombia, Vietnam and Mongolia.
Getty Tony Blair was a Middle East peace envoy for eight years
A spokesman for Mr Blair, said: “This is a reheated story Mr Blair has answered time and again. For the record the Quartet role was ex officio and unpaid. “There was no budget for it. Mr Blair gave his own time for free but had to raise money for the costs of the staff hired to do the work for their expenses and for his expenses, including substantial costs for travel and accommodation when doing OQR work, in a timely and efficient manner. “He made over 100 visits to Israel – Palestine alone whilst having this role. “The story about conflicts of interest with his non OQR activities was always false. He did no commercial work connected with the Israeli/Palestinian issue. “The contract with Mubadala was for work unconnected with the Quartet role as was the work for UI Energy briefly in 2008 which was a Korean company.” The spokesman added Mr Blair had already acknowledged UAE “supported” his work over the years for governance roles in countries like Colombia and Serbia.
Getty Tony Blair met with UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan