Blair under fire for '£500,000 job' with Iraq-linked bank

TONY Blair came under attack yesterday for his plans to take a lucrative part-time job with a Wall Street bank which has strong links to Iraq.

Mr Blair, who is also an international envoy to the Middle East, is to be an adviser to JP Morgan and will use his experience and contacts to provide political and strategic advice.

And he said he expected to take up more roles in the private sector, something which previous Labour prime ministers have shied away from doing.

The bank, which was chosen by the Bush administration in the US to run the Trade Bank of Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, is reported to be paying Mr Blair about £500,000 a year. It is not known how much work he will be expected to carry out.

Last night, Gerald Howarth, the Conservative defence spokesman,

said: "I think it will be viewed with some contempt by the armed forces that (Mr Blair] picks up this large cheque when he was happy to send British troops into battle ill-equipped and in insufficient numbers."

And Des Turner, the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, added: "He's cashing in big time. It's one law for some and another for the rest."

Commenting on Mr Blair's suitability for the post, Professor Kevin Theakston, who is writing a book on the lives of former premiers, said: "Blair knew notoriously little about economics. He was always a big-picture man, not a policy-focused prime minister."

However, Professor Trevor Salmon, a political expert at Aberdeen University, said:

"It's not about economics.

"If you had £100 million and you were going to invest it, would you invest it in Pakistan or not? Would you go to India instead? These are highly political decisions, not economic decisions, and that's exactly what Tony Blair is good at."

Prof Salmon added that Mr Blair could struggle to adapt to a working environment in which he did not have a huge staff to supply him with reams of background information.

Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's chief executive, said Mr Blair would be "enormously valuable" to the company.

Meanwhile, Mr Blair said he expected to agree to "a small handful" of similar appointments with other companies in different sectors.

Trading political arena for big-money posts

Ms Hunter was one of Mr Blair's key staff members before and after he won his first general election.

The director of government relations, she was also Mr Blair's oldest friend in politics.

Known as the "other woman" in his life, she could lift his mood in times of high pressure.

However, the ex-pupil of St Leonards school in St Andrews left Mr Blair's employ in 2001 for oil giant BP, where she had secured a £180,000-a-year job as head of communications.

• BARONESS SYMONS

The former foreign minister left her post in 2005 and went on to take up three positions in the private sector, earning her about £100,000. These included a consultancy position with the international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.

She also took up a boardroom job with British Airways which gave her £35,000 and free first-class flights for 15 days of work a year. Her third post was a non-executive one with P&O.

• NIGEL LAWSON

Mr Lawson, right, was MP for Blaby, Leicestershire, and served as chancellor from 1983-89.

He went on to become a non-executive director of Barclays Bank, earning an estimated £100,000. He was also director of GPA, the Irish aircraft leasing company, and is believed to have received a salary of between £30,000 and £40,000.

• DOUGLAS HURD

Mrs Thatcher's Foreign Secretary joined NatWest in 1995 for £250,000 a year, moving to the board of the bank's corporate finance house, Hawkpoint Partners.

• BRIAN WILSON

The former energy minister and MP for Cunninghame North has continued his interest in his former portfolio area since leaving government.

Mr Wilson took up directorships in a number of energy- related businesses – including Wind Save Ltd and Amec Nuclear.

• GEORGE YOUNGER

The Conservative MP for Ayr served as Scottish secretary and then defence secretary in Margaret Thatcher's government.

Mr Younger left politics in 1992 and went on to become chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland.