UK NEWS

BLAIR ACCUSED OF WASTING £1M ON FAREWELL TOUR

Wednesday May 23,2007

By Macer Hall, Political Editor

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(6)

THE Prime Minister was last night slammed for wasting almost £1million of taxpayers’ money on his farewell tour.

The bill – based on Whitehall estimates of his overseas travel costs – amounts to nearly half of his official foreign visits last year.

Angry critics yesterday branded the six-week globe-trotting odyssey by the departing Prime Minister “self indulgent”.
Mr Blair is due to hand over the keys to 10 Downing Street to his successor Gordon Brown on June 27. Until then, Mr Blair is set for a round of overseas visits.

Estimates based on similar trips suggest his final six-week jaunt could incur travel and accommodation expenses nearing £1million.

Mr Blair’s travel itinerary has come under criticism because opponents believe the visits are more about defining his legacy as an international statesman than looking after British interests.

The White House visit cost an estimated £190,000

He began his farewell tour with a dash to schools around the country in a Royal Navy helicopter jaunt that cost an estimated £50,000.

Last week, Mr Blair made his last official call to the White House in a private jet, at an estimated cost of £189,000.

At the weekend, he paid his final visit as Prime Minister to British troops serving in Baghdad and Basra. Previous bills have been up to £150,000, according to Whitehall figures. He is also due to attend summits in Germany and Brussels next month, costing in total an estimated £50,000.

Mr Blair is soon to visit South Africa and other African nations to highlight his personal crusade against poverty, disease and poor education. Similar tours have cost up to £500,000.

But this gallivanting has sparked criticism from opposition MPs, with Tory leader David Cameron accusing the Prime Minister of “acting like a pop star”.

Yesterday Tory MP Chris Grayling, the Shadow Transport Secretary, told the Daily Express: “At a time when frontline jobs are being axed in the NHS, it’s nothing short of outrageous that Tony Blair is wasting taxpayers’ money on this self-indulgence.”

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers Alliance campaign group, said: “If the Prime Minister wants to spend his final weeks in office shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, his new Tony Blair Foundation should foot the bill, not hard-pressed taxpayers.”

The total bill does not include a farewell tour to the US and Caribbean by John Prescott, who will quit as Deputy Prime Minister when Mr Blair goes.

Mr Prescott flew to Philadelphia last week with six officials as well as his personal protection team. Among his aides are a special adviser, a speechwriter and private secretaries.

UNFORTUNATELY 1916JULY IT IS A BIT STRONG!

24.05.07, 5:03pm

You may well receive a libel action in the post by the end of the week, THE ANTI CHRIST FOUND YOUR STATEMENT EXTREMELY DEROGATORY!

• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment

VACOUS WASTE OF SAPCE

24.05.07, 12:50am

this man is an arrogant piece of rubbish for whom there is a special place in hell when the time comes, to call him an anti christ is not too extreame a discription.

• Posted by: 1916july • Report Comment

PATHETIC!

23.05.07, 3:11pm

I can see no good reason why Blair should even have considered this ‘trip’ - apart from wanting to raise his profile, and pass his CV around his ‘chums’, to ensure a lucrative little earner after he departs the House of Commons! No doubt the ‘incoming’ PM will be off on a world tour as well, once he has been ‘crowned’ king of the castle! Pathetic, really pathetic!

• Posted by: Cynical_sid • Report Comment

BLAIR WASTING £1MILLION ON FAREWELL TOUR

23.05.07, 2:02pm

I suppose £1 million is a small price to pay for getting rid of this idiot!

• Posted by: steveg • Report Comment

BLAIR ACCUSED OF WASTING £1M ON FAREWELL TOUR

23.05.07, 12:44pm

The old saying "you have to speculate to accumulate" fits well.

Blair is speculating with OUR money and no doubt he is intending to accumulate for himself and cherie as a result.

Stinks dunnit !

• Posted by: AnthonyGibson • Report Comment

TWO IGNORANT MORON'S FEATHERING THEIR OWN NESTS!

23.05.07, 11:07am

Does this take into account the 100 uk citizens that may be refused treatment and go blind to pay for his tour and their future reliance on benefits and the loss of their contributions as they are forced to give up work?

Try at least trebling this figure and you may be somewhere close!

Green taxes on travellers if they are not (VIP) VERY IGNORANT PEOPLE, abusing their positions of power to feather their own nests!

• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment