Tony Blair has said he will close his commercial enterprises and focus on not-for-profit activities.
The former prime minister’s announcement to staff will most likely be seen as an acknowledgement that his commercial activities have attracted controversy and led to criticism that his political and commercial interests, especially in the Middle East, were too entwined.
He told staff at his Grosvenor Square office: “I want now to concentrate the vast bulk of my time on the not-for-profit work that we do. De facto, this has been the case in the past two years but we need to reflect this change in the way we are structured.
“To this end, we are going to make the following changes: we will close down Tony Blair Associates and wind up the Firerush and Windrush structures. I will retain a small number of personal consultancies for my income, but 80% of my time will be pro bono on the not-for-profit side.
He said the substantial reserves that Tony Blair Associates has accumulated will be gifted to the not-for-profit work. All of his activities ranging from work on African governance, counter-extremism, sport and the future of politics would now be placed under one roof.
In a model that the recently retired David Cameron may consider, Blair spent the nine years since his withdrawal from frontline politics building a group of organisations that employed about 200 people and operated in more than 20 different countries.
Blair’s reputation remains lowest in the UK where he has been criticised for the ways in which he earned his money and for his role in the Iraq war in 2003.
July’s Chilcot report was damning about the decision-making in Whitehall and the way in which intelligence was presented, but did not say that Blair lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
The scaling back of commercial activities may remove a second millstone around his reputation, although critics will say he has already made substantial sums from his businesses, including from some authoritarian regimes.
Windrush Ventures works with governments and reported a turnover of £19.5mn in 2015, with a profit of £3.5mn in that year. Blair’s Firerush companies specialise in advising individuals. In total, the surplus that will be ploughed back into the philanthropic activities will be £8mn. A small number of redundancies will be involved, mainly among those based on commercial activities.
Blair has always said he does not want to become a member of the super-rich, but has earned substantial sums as an adviser to JP Morgan’s international advisory board and the Zurich Insurance group. He also makes money from giving speeches and has a substantial property portfolio including a house in Connaught Square near Marble Arch in central London.
His office said the intention is to bring all the philanthropic activities together under one roof since much of the work is interlinked.
Blair has denied he is worth the sums often reported in the media, saying last year: “In respect to my new life, I have to say that reports of my wealth are greatly exaggerated. Just for the record, I read I’m supposed to be worth £100mn – Cherie’s kind of asking where it is. I’m not worth that, half of that, a third of that, a quarter of that, a fifth of that … I could go on.”
Conservative MPs including Andrew Bridgen have said it is in the public interest for him to reveal more about his finances, saying that Blair has brought his former office into disrepute.