The Colonel and his special advisor in happier times.

From here:

Colonel Gaddafi is understood to be on first name terms with Mr Blair, who saw his work in Libya as one of the great foreign policy successes of his premiership.[...] Mr Blair's trip to Tripoli in 2004, where he shook Colonel Gaddafi's hand and declared a 'new relationship'. The meeting led to lucrative Libyan oil contracts for Shell.

A month before stepping down as PM, Mr Blair visited-Colonel Gaddafi in Tripoli again at the same time that BP signed a $900 million deal with the Libyan National Oil Company.[...] Since becoming a part-time Middle East peace envoy on leaving office in 2007, Mr Blair has exploited his contacts to amass a personal fortune in excess of £20 million.

He has a lucrative contract to advise JP Morgan, which pays him £2million a year. Part of his job for them is to develop banking opportunities in Libya. It is understood that British firms Mr Blair is linked to are also being given contracts to tap Libya's massive natural resources, and to help rebuild the country's outdated infrastructure.

The details are sketchy because he has built a labyrinthine business empire of interlocking partnerships designed, it seems, to conceal the sources and scale of his income.

So how's that working out for you these days, Tony? You enjoying your blood for oil money?

For anyone who has spent the last week in an isolation tank, here's a summary of what's happening in Libya.

Ready for His Close-Up.

Broadway show-tunes kidding aside, there's something about the depth of Stevie Spiteful's narcissism and his love affair with being photographed (unless of course he's attending to other err..., business) that reminded me of the current occupation of another prime minister.

Something that I read recently ... aha! Here it is!

At last we have found Tony Blair's core principles, his true ­beliefs, the real third way. It is handbags. He is in the final stages of negotiating a job with Louis ­Vuitton Moët Hennessey. It not so much a corporation as a posh-brand pile-up on Millionaire's Row. [...]

Will Harper's short-lived stint as a Canadian politician be worth only one small paragraph in his CV? Does he have an eye on more profitable ventures? Is he angling for work as a model for luxury goods? He may be in luck - no longer is it necessary to have a chiselled and buff body in order to be photographed hawking perfume or designer goods. If Photoshop can shave inches off the thighs of already anorexic catwalk models, think what they can do for Moby Steve.

Many people use politics as a means to land the job of their dreams. $arah Palin? Ya betcha! And also.


He's ready for his close-up Mr Ford.

Un grand merci to lagatta who brought the article about Tony Blair to my attention.