Saturday 20 September 2008

How the other half lives

The 'Guardian' has started serialising extracts from “Tony’s Ten Years: Memories of the Blair Administration”, by Adam Boulton, a TV journalist who is married to Anji Hunter, Blair’s “close friend and long-serving amanuensis” [and non persona grata with Cherie Blair]. Here is the opening paragraph:

“Tony Blair's earnings from British politics plummeted when he left parliament. As prime minister his final salary had been £187,611 per annum, plus the Downing Street flat, Chequers, and full administrative support. On quitting, he was immediately eligible for a pension of £63,468 a year and £84,000 towards the expense of running a private office. It would have been hard to make ends meet without the £4.6m book deal, or the £1m he earned from public speaking the first year after he left office…..” and so on and so forth.


Oh, dear! This has quite spoiled my day. My heart bleeds for the impoverished Blairs, and I shall be weeping intermittently for them over the weekend.


And I won’t be reading any more ‘Harry Potter’ books – not that I ever managed to get through any of the drearily turgid tomes. I see that J.K. Rowling has just given £1 million to the Labour Party. Presumably she will soon be something like a Dame.


O tempora, O mores!

4 comments:

zola a social thing said...

Anticant : Do have something against Edinburgh?

anticant said...

I'm not clear how Edinburgh figures in this - but since you ask, I have mixed feelings about it. It is a beautiful city and I first fell in love with it when I was about ten, on a first, rather thrilling, family holiday visit to a 'foreign country'.

In the '60s, '70s, and '80s I had many good friends there - one of whom sadly died suddenly in his early fifties about ten years ago.

But I also had some bad professional experiences working for a government agency there which left me out of pocket.

So my memories of Edinburgh are rather mixed. But I still cherish it for its scenery, history, and as the birthplace of my beloved RLS.

Anonymous said...

How dare you Anticant : I was schooled in Edingbourgh and educated very well there. That was wye I went for education, education, education as I went to lead the Nation.
My friend Ms Rowllings was also a part of our coffeee-table communiti.

Jose said...

I wonder whether previous PMs ever complained of their post-mandate pays.