Sunday telegraph
MPs' expenses: Tony Blair facing questions over the £296,000 mortgage
Tony Blair is facing fresh questions over how he funded his
multi-million-pound property empire after details of the former Prime
Minister's claims were leaked to The Sunday Telegraph.
By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 9:33AM BST 10 May 2009
View of Tony Blair's home in Connaught Square in Central London Photo:
Christopher Pledger The documents show that Mr Blair remortgaged his
constituency home for £296,000, almost 10 times what he paid for it,
months before he bought his town house in London for £3.65 million. Mr
Blair was able to claim on his parliamentary expenses for the interest
repayments on almost a third of the new mortgage on his constituency
home. The amount loaned was sufficient to cover the deposit on his house
in Connaught Square, west London, one of five properties owned by the
former prime minister, valued at £10 million in total.
Although Mr Blair did not break parliamentary rules, dozens of MPs
appear to have used similar strategies to build property portfolios,
which has given rise to suggestions that they "played the system". Mr
Blair, who has earned about £16 million since leaving office, through
public speaking, directorships and a book deal, bought his constituency
home in Trimdon, County Durham, shortly after he was elected as an MP in
1983. He took out a £30,000 mortgage to buy the house, later
remortgaging it for about £90,000 to cover the cost of improvements and
renovations. The parliamentary Green Book, which sets out the rules on
what MPs can claim, states that members can increase their mortgages to
pay for improvements if they have the prior permission of the fees
office. Mr Blair remortgaged the property for a second time at the end
of 2003. He secured a loan of £296,000 from the Cheltenham &
Gloucester, on a house that was worth an estimated £250,000 to
£300,000 at the time. This suggests that the lender may have taken into
account Mr Blair's ability to claim part of the interest on his
expenses, when it agreed the mortgage. The additional £206,000 which Mr
Blair borrowed on top of the original purchase price and cost of
renovations was enough to cover the £182,500 deposit he put down on
Connaught Square, which was also bought with a Cheltenham & Gloucester
mortgage. David Hollingworth, a mortgage expert from London and County,
said it was entirely possible that Mr Blair used the money raised on the
Durham house to pay the deposit on Connaught Square. "It would be
possible to raise money on one property for the purpose of buying
another," he said. "A lot of people remortgage their main home to obtain
a buy to let mortgage, and others do it to raise a deposit for their
sons or daughters, for example.Having said that, if someone came to me
wanting to buy a £3.65 million property with a five per cent deposit
which they had raised on another property, I would consider that a
pretty tricky case." The question of how Mr Blair was able to obtain a
£3,467,500 mortgage on Connaught Square, which was more than 18 times
his salary at the time, has always been surrounded in mystery. The house
took the couple's mortgage commitments to £4 million, which included
the Durham property, and two flats in Bristol, one of which has since
been sold.
Since leaving office, Mr Blair has bought an £800,000 mews house behind
Connaught Square, which has been knocked through to make one property,
and a £4 million house in Buckinghamshire, which was the home of the
late Sir John Gielgud.
Mr Blair's parliamentary expense forms show that he claimed £387 per
month in mortgage interest, just under a third of the total monthly
interest payments on the Durham house. One claim form, for 2005-06, is
covered with handwritten sums detailing each month's mortgage interest
claim to the penny, which vary by around £20 per month as the interest
rate changes.
His claim forms for the Additional Costs Allowance for 2004-2007, when
he stepped down from parliament, also showed that he claimed £2,218 to
pay his cleaner, £2,874.47 for utility bills, £177.13 for food and
£15 to pay his window cleaner. He also claimed £1,399.22 for council
tax, £458.79 for repairs and £131.50 for his television licence. Among
the incidental expense claims are an annual newspaper bill of
£1,167.48, regular bills for his Orange mobile phone and £515.75 for
the delivery and installation of a Siemens dishwasher.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said yesterday: "Mr Blair only claimed back the
interest repayments on the portion of the mortgage which covered the
purchase price and improvements to the house. There was no cost to the
taxpayer in the rest of the money raised against the property." ???
MPs' EXPENSES: Blair's £43,000 expenses were shredded 'by incompetence'
Last updated at 1:40 AM on 14th May 2009
Tony Blair dodged possible fire over his housing deals after hundreds of
expenses claims were 'accidentally' shredded.
Documents itemising some of the then Prime Minister's receipts for
2001-02 were destroyed by Commons officials 'by mistake'.
It covered a period when he claimed for Myrobella, his Sedgefield
constituency home.
It was already known that Mr Blair claimed £43,029 over a three-year
period up to 2003-04.But it was not known what the money was spent on.
The former Premier's financial affairs have long been under the
spotlight.
A receipt-by-receipt breakdown of his expenses claims published last
year showed he had remortgaged Myrobella for £296,000, almost ten times
what he paid for it, months before he bought a London town house for
£3.65million.
The details were only published following a four-year freedom of
information battle.
But the 'black hole' in Mr Blair expenses claims raise questions over
what details the destroyed documents might have contained.
To increase suspicions, Westminster officials shredded the files even
though they were the subject to an ongoing legal challenge.
Expenses campaigner Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat, MP said: 'It
seems terribly opportune that a sheaf of Tony Blair's expenses have been
destroyed.
'This is either incompetence or obstruction of the Freedom of
Information Act. It should be properly investigated to remove any
concerns that someone has had a quiet word to ensure it happened.'
More...
* Oi, Dave, did you get your new bike on expenses?
* Ex-minister faces fraud probe over £16,000 'mistake' on mortgage
that did not exist
* As minister pledges to pay back £41,000 of dodgy expenses, why
aren't Darling & Co doing the same?
* Brown plays catch-up in the race for public trust after Cameron's
manoeuvrings
* The millionaire Lib Dem and the trouser press: Even more claims
emerge from Clegg's party
* 100 MPs cash in on tax dodge that Speaker Martin failed to end
Andrew Walker, the head of the Commons fees office which oversees
expenses claims, has apologised for the blunder. He insists it occurred
through 'incompetence, not intent'.
Last year it emerged that Commons Speaker Michael Martin had allowed
officials to destroy claim forms and receipts up to April 2005 - meaning
thousands of expenses have been secretly shredded.
But the authorities said the shredding was simply 'routine destruction'
- and not a cover up.
Http://www.dailymai
43-000-expenses-
Sunday telegraph
Tony Blair's foundation shows cracks after he lectures Pope Launched
with great fanfare last year, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation already
appears to be in some turmoil.
By Richard Eden
Last Updated: 2:47PM BST 25 Apr 2009
One of the former prime minister's closest aides has resigned amid
rumours of a dispute over Blair's "lecturing" of the Pope about
homosexuality. William Chapman is stepping down from his role as policy
adviser to the foundation. "He was not happy with the interview that
Blair gave to a gay magazine in which he said the Catholic Church needed
to change its attitudes," says one of his friends. "He had been tasked
with persuading cardinals to become involved with the foundation and he
felt that his job had been made impossible."
No doubt Tony Blair would have saved Jesus - then where would we be? The
charity is keen to deny any rift. "William has been a very important
part of establishing the foundation," says Ruth Turner, its chief
executive. "The work he has done will be of enduring value." ???
Daily telegraph
Tony Blair opposes new 50 pence tax rate for high earners Tony Blair
believes the new 50 per cent top rate of income tax introduced by Gordon
Brown is a "terrible mistake", the Daily Telegraph has learned.
By Andrew Pierce and Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 9:29AM BST 25 Apr 2009
Mr Blair has privately indicated his opposition to the 50 pence tax rate
Photo: AP The former Prime Minister has privately expressed his despair
at the Labour government's decision to target the wealthy in the Budget.
Some of the leading architects of New Labour have also savaged the move,
which they believe has cost Labour any hope of winning the general
election.
Britain deserves better than the shabby cynicism of this Budget The
revelation that Mr Blair has privately indicated his opposition to the
headline 50 pence tax rate for people earning over £150,000 will cause
consternation in Downing Street,. Number Ten was badly rattled by
Friday's Telegraph poll which gave the Tories an 18 point lead over
Labour. One friend of Mr Blair said: "Tony thought the original proposal
to raise the top rate to 45 pence was just about saleable in the current
economic circumstances. "But he believes taking 50 per cent is not
acceptable. It would not have happened if he was still there. He thinks
it's a terrible mistake." One of Mr Blair's closest allies said: "The
50p tax move is a disaster. Blair would have cut taxes, not increased
them." The hostile public reaction to the Budget, which signalled a
return to the politics of class warfare, has intensified speculation
that Mr Brown could face a leadership challenge. The mood of despair
among Labour MPs deepened after figures published yesterday showed the
economy contracted far more sharply in the first quarter than the
Chancellor Alistair Darling predicted in his Budget statement only two
days earlier. The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrank by 1.9
per cent between January and March, official statistics showed. Labour
MPs fear the Prime Minister's fate may be sealed by the European and
county council elections on June 4 amid polling evidence that Labour is
facing disaster and could trail in fourth behind the Lib Dems and the
United Kingdom Independence Party. A senior Labour figure, who helped
create New Labour, said the election was already lost but that the party
could not replace another leader without calling an immediate general
election. He said: "There is no way back. People want a man with a plan,
and no one would believe Labour if they changed leader now."
The gloom in the Labour Party was underlined by Alastair Campbell, who
was Mr Blair's communications chief, who wrote on his blog: "I confess
to being a bit down after the Budget. Not for nothing, I guess, is a
grim economic situation described as a depression."
Lord Mandelson, in an interview today, warns against shifting from its
new Labour agenda. "If we imagine, as some argue, that the antidote to
Cameron is left-wing socialism, that the dividing line between us and
David Cameron should be to make him a right-winger and us the
left-wingers, that will lead to defeat. There are not enough people [in
the Labour Party] to man the barricades to keep us in the winning
position we had before."
Speculation about Mr Brown's future had restarted before the Budget
because of the controversy over the Downing Street aide Damian McBride's
emails smearing senior Tories. Mr Brown's authority will be further
weakened if his proposal for a daily attendance rate, to end the
controversy over MP's expenses, is rejected by his own side. Charles
Clarke, the former Home Secretary, said: "MPs haven't reacted to the
Budget with the belief that the problems with the economy have been
sorted out. People were absolutely appalled by the emails. There is a
belief that this sort of thing has to be rooted out completely and that
it wasn't just Damian McBride." On expenses, he said: "Gordon has got
off on completely the wrong foot on this."
A number of former ministers contacted by the Telegraph predicted the
party would go into meltdown if Labour came fourth on June 4. One said:
"If we are in fourth place he is in real trouble. I'm not sure we could
wait until the party conference to replace him. He would have to go by
the summer."
Another one said: "You don't have to be a genius to guess what Tony
Blair's view on this is. This was his pledge – he knew it was just
toxic for Labour to do this. We had to be the party who did not put
people's taxes up."
He said it was "not an unreasonable conclusion to draw" that the 50p tax
meant "the death of New Labour". He said he would "not be surprised" if
MPs were planning to move against Mr Brown if the elections went badly.
"Our chances would still be improved if Gordon were replaced," he said.
Another one said: "The mood in the party is dire. There's no leadership
or strategy. Most of the evidence indicates the 50p tax isn't going to
raise much money – it's likely to do slightly more damage than
benefit. Brown's been an absolutely dreadful leader."
The Labour Whips are planning to try to ruthlessly enforce party
discipline by contacting some of Mr Brown's staunchest opponents to warn
them in the days before the polls against going public with any calls
for a change at the top. One nuclear option being considered is to
threaten to withdraw the party whip and to put pressure on local
constituency parties to threaten to deselect anyone who rocks the boat.
Opponents of Mr Brown hope that if the results are bad a figure with the
seniority of Lord Mandelson could persuade him to stand down and a
caretaker leader appointed in his place such as Jack Straw, the Justice
Secretary, or Alan Johnson the Health Secretary. But ambitious ministers
such as Harriet Harman would almost certainly try to force a leadership
contest. The Brown loyalist said: "If the results are bad, the prospect
of a leadership contest, and Harriet winning, might stop people trying
to force Gordon out." Mr Blair's office last night declined to comment.
???Daily telegraph
Tony Blair ally Stephen Byers criticises new 50 pence income tax rate
Stephen Byers, one of Tony Blair's key allies, has publicly condemned
the new 50 pence rate of income tax for high earners.
By Andrew Pierce
Last Updated: 7:11AM BST 28 Apr 2009
Stephen Byers, the former Transport Secretary, has now put himself at
the head of Labour opposition to the Budget Photo: HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY
In a calculated intervention in the House of Commons, Mr Byers, the
former Transport Secretary, said: "I think we will regret it for many
years to come in the Labour Party. I don't think the case for the 50p
rate has been made." He said the government had fallen into an "elephant
trap" which was so large even a short-sighted "old tusker" should have
been able to see it.
Budget 2009: High earners £18,333 a year worse off. Mr Byers' attack
came only 48 hours after the Daily Telegraph disclosed that Mr Blair
privately believed that the 50 pence tax rate for people earning
£150,000 and more was a "terrible mistake". He is the first Blairite
minister to speak out in public about the issue and his decision will
fuel the fears of Mr Brown's supporters that there is a now deliberate
and concerted attempt by supporters of the former Prime Minister to
undermine or even destroy his premiership. The remarks, in the
parliamentary debate on the Budget, are the most direct challenge to Mr
Brown's authority in the House of Commons from such a senior Labour
Party figure. Mr Byers, who described the tax rise as a political
posturing rather than a fiscal necessity, said: "It is unclear whether
this is to be a permanent part of the tax system... government
ministers, I have to say, have sent out mixed messages." In a rallying
cry to labour rebels he said that the tax rise should be opposed because
it was damaging to the Labour Party in government and broke a key
manifesto pledge. On Saturday the Telegraph disclosed that Mr Blair was
privately dismayed by the Budget, regarded the new tax rate as a
mistaken, and would never have introduced it if he was Prime Minister.
When Mr Blair was in 10 Downing Street he consistently overruled Mr
Brown as Chancellor who had wanted to raise top tax rate tax in Labour's
first Budget in 1997. In the last manifesto, agreed when Mr Blair was
Prime Minister, there was a commitment not to raise it. Initially the
government planned to make the rate 45 pence, coming in after the next
election, but in the Budget upped it to 50 pence to come into force next
April in the run up to the expected general election. Mr Byers has now
put himself at the head of Labour opposition to the Budget in a week in
which Mr Brown is already under pressure over MPs expenses. David
Cameron and the Conservatives have pledged they will overturn it in when
they can.
Sunday telegraph
Is Tony Blair saint or sinner in memoirs of No 10 friar? When Tony Blair
converted to Roman Catholicism just six months after he was evicted from
10 Downing Street, he left many questions unanswered. The priest who
played a key role in the former prime minister's move to Rome has,
however, signed up to write a potentially sensational autobiography in
which he is expected to provide some explanations.
By Richard Eden
Last Updated: 1:31AM BST 10 May 2009
John Blake, the publisher who has won the rights to Father Michael
Seed's book, informs Mandrake that the memoirs will have the intriguing
title Saints and Sinners and will come out in July. "It's warts and
all," he tells me. "It's an honest account of his personal memories. Of
course, people from Alan Clark to the Pope to the Blairs and the
Archbishop of Canterbury will be in it. It is an honest and gentle
insight into people as they really are. He always sees the best in
people." Blake, who made a fortune from publishing the memoirs of the
glamour model Jordan, adds: "I don't know if he'll consult the Blairs,
but a few of his friends have been reading the book and giving advice."
He declines to say how much Fr Seed had been paid for the book. "It's
very difficult to get him to accept money," he says. "He's just not
really that interested. Last time we gave him an advance he bought a
television for the monks' common room and then gave the rest to
charity."
Daughter of Blair guru loses her bid for safe seat
Impeccable New Labour credentials count for nothing to party rank and
file after bitter and brutal campaign in south-east London
By Andrew Johnson
Sunday, 17 May 2009
An attempt by the 22-year-old daughter of Tony Blair's polling guru
Philip Gould to claim one of Labour's safest parliamentary seats ended
in defeat yesterday after she came a poor third in a bitter and brutal
fight that has been filled with charges of nepotism, and marred by a
vote-rigging scandal and charges of dirty tricks.
Related articles
Georgia Gould, whose mother, Gail Rebuck, is the head of Random House
publishers, caused consternation among the rank and file in the solid
Labour seat of Erith and Thamesmead in south-east London, when she
launched her bid to replace the sitting MP, John Austen, who is standing
down at the next election.
At a secret hustings last night, Ms Gould's brutal introduction to the
rough world of local politics ended in defeat.
Party members chose Teresa Pearce, a 54-year-old former Labour
councillor and tax expert with PricewaterhouseCoop
former Labour minister, Melanie Johnson, with Ms Gould in a distant
third place.
"Teresa won decisively," said London's Labour Party spokesman Philip
Dilkes. Ms Pearce said her job now was to "rebuild the trust" of voters
in the local party.
Following her humiliating third place, Ms Gould tried to heal wounds by
throwing her support behind the winner, saying she supported her "100
per cent" and would campaign for her.
Oxford graduate Ms Gould had been accused of attempting to parachute
into a safe seat through her impeccable New Labour credentials.
Her father, Lord Gould, was given his peerage by Mr Blair for his role
in helping to found New Labour: there are photos of Neil Kinnock, the
former Labour leader, bouncing Ms Gould on his knee when she was a baby.
Her mother is a close friend of the Blairs. Eyebrows were also raised
when Alastair Campbell and Tessa Jowell lent Ms Gould their public
support.
In her defence, her mother said last month that Ms Gould - a graduate of
Oxford University where she was secretary of the Labour Club - had been
a party organiser at the age of 18. "She was fighting a campaign in
Mitcham and Morden before she went to university," Ms Rebuck said,
"getting up at 6am and coming back at midnight,"
The hustings had been due to take place last month, but got postponed
after a sealed election box was broken into and postal votes destroyed.
Her supporters were also accused of going door-to-door urging party
members to fill out postal votes. By the time the ballot box was broken
into, a third of party members had voted by post, an unusually high
number.
All postal votes were cancelled, and an internal party investigation of
the break-in is under way.
There was further discontent over national party interference earlier
this month when the constituency chairman, Frank Lerner, was axed by the
Labour Party general secretary, Ray Collins. Mr Lerner, a pensioner and
former headmaster, had written to every member of the local party
outlining the ballot box shenanigans, an act Mr Collins considered
"detrimental to the party". He had also complained that the "harassment"
of voters over postal votes broke party rules.
http://www.independ
loses-her-bid-
--
Sean Gabb
Director, The Libertarian Alliance
(Carbon Positive since 1979)
sean@libertarian.
Tel: 07956 472 199
Skype Username: seangabb
http://www.libertar
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