Tony Blair lambasted by former employee over role in own charity

[muriel_volestrangler]

Tony Blair's faith charity has hit back at an ex-staff member who raised questions about the amount of time the foundation devoted to protecting the reputation of the former prime minister.

Martin Bright, a former website editor for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, wrote about his five-month job in an article for the Mail on Sunday, saying there was much that was "puzzling or frankly weird" about the former prime minister's web of charity and business interests.
...
"But it was clear from the outset that his tanned, expensively dressed presence was inescapable. He was the main draw for potential funders and his reputation was to be protected at all costs. This sometimes made things complicated. Long meetings were held to decide our position on Iraq in the light of the forthcoming Chilcot inquiry or how we would approach the Israel-Palestine conflict.

"We tiptoed around Blair's business interests in Kazakhstan, Romania and the Gulf. Stories that the charity's patron might be advising the new government of Egypt were a nightmare."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/03/tony-blair-faith-foundation-charity-martin-bright-role

The article - you don't have to visit the Mail to read it. This is the Martin Bright who used to write for the New Statesman - a significant journalist:

By April, Tony Blair was taking an increasingly hard-line stance in support of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian military leader who had overthrown the Muslim Brotherhood government – precisely the sort of international situation for which our Religion And Geopolitics site was designed.
...
I wrote an article explaining the role that the Foreign Office had played in legitimising the Muslim Brotherhood during Jack Straw’s time as Foreign Secretary under Blair.

The piece was never published.

It was at this point one of the ‘strat comms’ team took me aside to explain that the piece was not acceptable.

Had she read it? ‘Well... no,’ she said. ‘I don’t have to read it to know it shouldn’t be published.’

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=332972:inside-tony-blairs-lair-five-spin-doctors--deals-with-dictators&Itemid=2

[KoKo]

1. Recommend! Very interesting...

[malaise]

2. These war criminals operate as if they will never have to answer

for their deeds