Multi-millionaire Tony Blair sells fool's gold to despots around the world

The breathtaking financial rise of Tony Blair can only be matched by his equally spectacular downfall into the sordid gutter of sleazy politics at home and abroad. However, the former Middle East Peace Envoy could have achieved neither financial peak nor political trough without the help of his despotic Arab friends who rule in a region which is still in chaos largely due to the part played by the former British prime minister in the illegal invasion of Iraq back in 2003.

Tragically, Iraq continues to burn as a turf war between its current dictator, the Iranian-backed Haider Al-Abadi, and the mad men of Daesh is being fought in Mosul, where hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis await their unknown fate.

Meanwhile, Blair is back home in London urging people to “rise up” against so-called Brexit following Britain’s decision to quit the European Union. After 10 years as prime minister and 24 as a Member of Parliament, and another decade raking in millions from despots across the Middle East and Asia, it seems that Blair is craving for something more.

For the sake of the Iraqi people and what’s left of their country; for the women in Afghanistan who were used so ruthlessly as a tool for the war in their country; and for human rights across the globe, isn’t it about time that the Blair bandwagon was brought to a halt? His continued presence in the public arena is baffling, as is the tolerance of this war-mongering multi-millionaire within the ranks of the Labour Party, which was founded out of the trade union movement upon socialist principles.

“For the first time in my adult life it is no longer obvious that liberty, democracy and the rule of law are secure,” Blair announced dramatically last Friday, without a touch of irony. Liberty, democracy and justice are not words used or understood by those dictators from whom he receives millions of dollars as a “consultant”.

The Arab world must have looked on and listened with incredulity as “their paid mouthpiece” went on to urge the British people to “rise up” against Brexit for the sake of democracy. What Blair and his chums cannot seem to grasp is that, while he is unique, this uniqueness is due entirely to him doing what no other politician has come near to achieving; he has united very, very many British people. Sadly for Blair, they’re united against him.

The fact is, with the exception of a few people within the Westminster elite, Blair is despised in his own backyard and his name is mud in the souks around the Middle East and Asia. The open hatred doesn’t simply stem from the invasion of Iraq, or the consequent rise of Daesh, or even the betrayal of Palestine and Palestinians in his role as Middle East Peace Envoy.

He is despised because of the shameless way in which he has pimped his way around Arab nations and parts of Asia pocketing millions from despotic leaders determined to prevent their own citizens from rising up again as many did so heroically in the Arab Spring. The courageous efforts of ordinary Libyans and Egyptians have been crushed brutally, while in Yemen and Syria the blood and suffering continues to flow into oceans of despair.

Blair offers the tyrants behind these atrocities a sort of fool’s gold; a veneer of respectability. It’s something that money can’t really buy, because it doesn’t actually exist for such people. However, they recruit Tony Blair Associates at immense cost because they believe that his presence and photo opportunities give them the legitimacy that they crave both at home and abroad; the human rights abuses, of course, carry on unabated against their hapless citizens.

It is well known that spin doctors worked very efficiently and effectively for Blair during his days in government. There’s only so much whitewashing that can be done, though, before the stains of brutal rule and injustice will not just go away.

Like many intellectual foundations, trusts and organisations, Blair is not interested in truth or accountability but the sort of atrocities being carried out by “his” dictators cannot remain hidden forever. As the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war demonstrated, the truth will out one day.

In fact, what has already emerged is that Blair has made big bucks from flogging his fool’s gold to Arab leaders and now he’s touting his services to other dictators in deals worth around £5m pound a year. As reported extensively here we know that Blair made a shameless sales pitch to Nursultan Nazarbayev, offering the Kazakh regime responsible for atrocious human rights abuses his “unique personal experience and insights” for what amount to eye-watering fees.

“It seems that no regime is too despotic for Tony Blair to work for, provided the price is right,” said Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen last year. “Since leaving office he has become a gun for hire for all manner of dubious regimes, damaging our reputation around the world.”

Flogging fool’s gold is one thing, but the British people would be foolish to listen to Blair on any subject, let alone one as controversial as Brexit. He is a toxic brand; we should ignore him.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.