Tony & Cherie Blair's American Dream

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1204504.ece

Downing Street claims that Mr Blair's trip to California - the first by a serving Prime Minister - is to promote Britain's interests in a state that counts as one of the world's largest economies in its own right.

And indeed his itinerary takes in meetings with many firms competing with British innovators in fields such as stem-cell research and computing. But there is another - half-hidden - agenda to Mr Blair's end-of-term jaunt: the pursuit by both the high-flying Blairs of a job after Downing Street.

For the next few days Mr Blair will be meeting some of the big players in a country that adores him. Players such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California. For a leader no longer much loved on his own domestic battlefield, the sunshine state must feel like a political Valhalla. "This is about Blair networking among some of the richest, most powerful people in the world so that he can either tap them up for directorships or get them to donate to a 'Blair Foundation' in the future," says a former minister who has accompanied the Prime Minister on previous US trips.

Mr Blair's plans for the future are beginning to form, say friends, who predict that there will, indeed, be some sort of charitable foundation in his name. The institution, almost certainly based in London, will promote those causes most close to his heart, they say. (It may not be an accident that Mr Blair is expected to meet senior Microsoft executives in the coming days - Bill Gates has led the way in pioneering a new form of global philanthropy.)

[itzamirakul]

1. Do the Blair's already have residence in the U.S.? If not, expect

them to purchase expensive digs in NYC, LA, and perhaps on a Caribbean island somewhere.

Blair will join a respected lobbying firm (and do no work - merely lend his name) and sit on several boards. All of this is very exciting to people who have money.

[malaise]

3. He's buying property in Barbados

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/26/nmps26.xml

<snip>
There is speculation that the Blairs - whose recent holiday destinations have included friends' villas in Italy and the south of France, and the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh - have been looking for a holiday property on Barbados.

Note that while Lebanon burns, they're all on holiday.

[ixion]

2. minor correction: Florida is the 'Sunshine State'

California is the Golden State.

Just sayin...

[acmejack]

4. I thought I had heard Tony was in with Carlyle Group