Should Tony Blair donate book profits to charity?

I think it's an extremely generous and touching gesture. If you're cynical enough to question his motives then I'm afraid that says more about your morals than those of Tony Blair.

Judge a person by what they choose to do, not what they have to do.

Try as he might he will never buy his way into what he and others perceive as HEAVEN did not Jesus make his pint well enough with the merchants in the Temple?

While I am no fan of Mr Blair, in fact I can't stand the guy, it should of coarse be commended that he is giving such a life changing amount of money to charity. Yes the guy is rich but he does not have to give to any charity for any reason if he does not want to like all of us.
In this case good on him.

THE QUESTION SHOULD BE HOW A DISCREDIT POLITICIAN
IS GIVEN 5 PLUS +SALES MILLION FOR A USELESS BOOK.
IS IT PAYBACK FROM THE WORLD MASTERS FOR ALLOWING
THEM TO MAKE TRILLIONS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS/POUNDS
IN THESE WASTE OF TIME/LIVES WARS,BUT BIG PROFITS FOR THE
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
THE MEGA RICH GET MORE ; THE REST GET DOWNWARD MOBILITY
( NO PENSION ,NO WORK ,DIE IN WARS )
BRITANNIA IS DYING AND NEEDS HELP ;
WILL THESE MEGA RICH WILL COME TO HER HELP ?

In answer to the first question certainly not, the man was a "chancer" from the moment he studied drama at Fettes.
Question 2 Anybody in their right mind about Blair should not change their opinion of him. From the times of the Roman Empire politicians who were caught out tried to buy their way out of it.
Question 3 is a non-starter Have you stopped beating your wife type.
Any gesture to a good cause is appropriate, the key word is "good"
If I or anyone says that this is inappropriate then they would be branded as being moronic and be listed as a pariah.
Blair wants to be liked/respected/well thought of: compare Nero who wasn't liked but feared so much that even when he fell out of a chariot he was racing he was still given first prize.
Very poor questions especially 2 and 3

Surely it is entirely up to Blair what he does with the money he earns. I doubt it will change people's opinion of him, but most likely it will assuage his catholic guilt.

Blood money.

I have no problem with this. However, I would be interested in finding out which other charities he supports. It should be second nature to a socialist with so many millions to support the needy.

Good. I suggest that all prime ministers who send young people to war, whether morally justified or not, should be required to donate the profits of at least one version of their memoirs to a charity that cares for those injured in that war. I hope Blair has set a precendent. If he has done wrong then he will have to answer to God or his soul as no legal instution will punish him.
But its no big deal donating royalties. I have just donated the royalties from a book I published in the US cos the banks wanted such a cut for transferring the money I thought it best to dish them and give it away.

This pious offer by Blair makes me nauseous. It's simply blood money for the evil war he pursued and which the majority of this nation opposed. Perhaps he should use the ill gotten gains to repay the nation the bill we now have to pay for the destruction of Iraq which he did in our name.

Well it is really up to him. However he should be applauded for doing so as he didn't need to. There are plenty of celebrities who write books and keep ther money themselves. Off the top of my head Katie Price and Wayne Rooney kept all the profits from their books. If you want to criticise anyone criticise them.
Irrespective of whom gets the profits the fact that he has written the book will be useful to historians as it will show his point of view. Most prime ministers and senior politicians have written books, so it isn't as if he is doing anything different.

People who care about Human Rights of all, not just the Rich, should continue to work to get Tony Blair indicted for War Crimes unto he disappears from this World.

Yes, as an author he can donate to whichever charity he sees fit. As for 'buying forgiveness', I think Mr Blair is well aware that his memoirs and his donations will not, and never, appease the many enemies he has out there. And seeing that he has been out of the main political loop for nearly 4 years, does anyone really care anymore what Mr Blair does? What's there that's left to say that hasn't been said during his years in office?

Mr Blair is a very wealthy man, and his donation of £4.6 million will no doubt be welcomed by the charity concerned. I will not buy the book, and my forgiveness will not be bought by this gesture. When the book appears I will, however, make a donation to a charity for injured soldiers.

Oh how generous!!! Of course he is trying to salve his conciensce but I don't mind the money going there. However I will be extremely critical if the RBL in anyway try to exonerate or whitewash the fact. The fact is Blair should give back something for the suffering he has caused and it is a miniscule amount to what he will earn from his public speaking and other perks. History is being argued over at the moment and I suppose the spin doctors will be kind to him just as they were to Churchill. The other thing he could do would be a charity to help out in the upbringing of the children of deceased soldiers to ensure that they get a university education oh and a little dollop of aid for the estimated 1.4 million Iraqis killed would not come amiss.

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Why all these silly questions? The man has said he is to donate the money, THANK YOU SIR.
It could have stayed in his pocket.

It really doesn't matter what he does, monetarily or otherwise. He can NEVER assuage the blood and death he has helped bring to the Iraquis, the Afghanis and the British soldier and civilian.

Blair is a guilty man and his pieces of silver will do him no good whatever, whether he believes it or not.

I had better mind what I say here ; what a hypocrite unfortunately the Royal British Legion need the funds otherwise I would love them to tell him where to put it !! this man has no morals and never has done.

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This is tragic,but oh so predictable. A truly wise individual would never, never have taken this country into an illegal/utterly immoral war; hundreds of thousands of human beings have perished and continue to. Blair is a "religious" man in the most primitive sense,he is completely deluded by his obscene ego. Who the hell does he think he's fooling?

Sadly his donation will not bring back to life those who have died, neither soldiers or innocent civilians. Rather than his donation, I am amazed that it was thought his memoirs, which nobody seriously expects to be entirely open, frank and let alone honest, should be worth that much.

You cannot buy absolution from your crimes.

Seems like generous gesture from a pariah. Perhaps he's found God.

I'll stick to my evidence based prejudices for now.

1) No I won't buy his book - does anyone know or can make an accurate guess as to the profit made by an individual book in order to make a donation of at least that amount to the RBL?
2) No again, anybody with wit or any intelligence correctly viewed him as a chancer (if not outright liar), a schemer - a smarmy so-n-so - and are unlikely to change that view
3) Inappropriate, there is a whiff, no make that a stench of guilt money about his "gesture", still the RBL need the money so it's not all bad.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not ....

Will I buy this book? No.
Will the donation change my opinion of Tony Blair? No.
Is the donation an appropriate gesture?
Depends what you mean.
An apology for taking the country into war based on incorrect intelligence would be very appropriate.
An admission that he was primarily responsible for the fiasco,would be even more appropriate.
As for this gesture..
If he really cared about our brave soldiers..
Why did he place them in grave danger?
Why did our brave prime minister stay well away from any danger?
Do not think our fighting men will be very happy at the obscene amount of money this man is now making.
And God knows what the people in other countries think of us.
Blood on our hands.
Because we once trusted Tony Blair.
And he always trusted George W Bush.
Rather think History will record the past few years,as a love affair.
Between two very unloveable men.
Do concede we have to fight terrorism.
But it would be more than a bit helpful if we could identify them.
Pretty pointless going to war when you do not have a clue who the enemy is.

How fantastic of Mr Blair to make this very generous donation which he had no need to do. To those cynics having a go at Mr Blair for this very positive action the donation should be accepted by everyone positively because it can only do good for those who need it, I am sure that as any head of state that has to send troops into harms way that he wishes he had never had to.
From me:- A very well done and thank you Mr Blair.

I think that in this situation, Blair is dammed if he does and dammed if he doesn't.
No matter what he does though, in my opinion, he can never erase the stigma of taking this country to war in, at best, highly suspicious circumstances and on flawed evidence and being directly responsible for the deaths of not only hundreds of British servicemen and women, but countless thousands of innocent Iraqui civillians...THIS IS FACT.
Not only that, he and Gordon Brown lied and grinned their way through two terms of government saying how safe the economy was in their hands whilst allowing the banks, energy companies, amongst many others, to bleed hardworking people dry. AND THEN GO AND GET AN ADVISORY ROLE WITH JP MORGAN FOR A SEVEN FIGURE SUM??? COME OFF IT!!
If there was any justice, Tony Blair would be facing trial in this country for charges ranging from gorss incompetance in public office, to crimes against humanity. P.S love the first comment in this list...judge him by what he does....brilliant...he's a war criminal dear!

Sounds like a man who knows he's guilty.

In that case should really give all he has and lose all his privileges.

I am not sure banishment to Scotland is enough for Gordon.

It's a generous gesture but he has a lot more money than this anyway, and it doesn't change my mind over him sending our troops to Iraq.
You could argue it goes a tiny way to making up for the cash that he & Gordon held back from our soldiers when they needed it.

Blair chucks a few quid at a charity. SO WHAT? He's still a duplicitous charlatan with oceans of innocent blood on his hands.

He is a war criminal who should be behind bars. Nothing changes that.


And check out how much this guy is worth. To him, this is not a big deal.

£4.6 million as an advance!....
The publishers must be mad to think that anyone will buy this book written by a man who is a discredited war criminal and has the blood of thousands on this hands.
He is giving this in the hope that we will forgive him for being the instrument by which thousands died, were maimed for life or traumatized into insanity.
I hope that he feels it right to donate ALL his money to the children with deformities brought about by the use of weapons using depleted uranium now and in the future!
You cannot 'buy' your way out of what he did together with his cowboy mates.
Will the £4.6 million help you sleep at night Tony?...is that what it's for?
There are things that money cannot buy namely humanity and integrity.

I'm sure there will be plenty of shameless Blair Sympathisers coming out the woodwork saying 'Poor Tony ... he's Damned if he does and Damned if he doesnt'!
Well for once I agree with them!
'Damned' is exactly the word that best describes him and deservedly so!

No, we would not buy the book.

No we would not alter our detrimental opinion of Mr. Blair

What is an appropriate gesture for involving this country in an unjustified war with such a continuing tragic outcome which we read about in the media most days.

If you consider that Tony Blair has never waivered in his judgement and that he thinks he was right about going to war. Fine. Cynical I may be, but if he is so fervent that he was right, this enormous sum of donated money smacks of a guilty conscience. Maybe and it is only a maybe, if these monies had come from his own personal wealth I might be less cynical.

We should bear in mind that the lives of those thousands Iraqis and UK soldiers can never be costed and there is no amount of money in the world that can compensate the families.

I am certainly curious to find out how many people in this country will be buying this book. No doubt the US sales will be high, but maybe the public in this country are more cynical. The fact that the British Legion will use the money for injured soldiers is good news, but, more's the pity that there are so many injured soldiers coming back from Iraq. What about those that have and will not be coming back?

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IN THE FIRST PLACE I MUST SAY IM NO FAN OF TONY BLAIR ,AND I WAS AGAINST THE WAR ,HOWEVER FOR WHATEVER REASON HE IS DONATING THIS MONEY ,I MUST GIVE HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT ,HE DID NOT HAVE TO DONATE ALL THE MONEY, EVEN IF HE DOES NOT NEED IT WHAT OTHER PRIME MINISTER HAS EVER DONATED THIS KIND OF MONEY ,THE PRESENT GOVERMENT LOTS OF THEM MILLIONAIRES ,HAVE CHOSEN TO HIT THE LOWER PAID ,INSTEAD OF RAISING TAXES FOR THOSE WHO COULD AFFORD IT ,THEY CERTAINLY WANT TO LOOK AFTER THERE MONEY,SO IN THE MAIN ITS AT LEAST A GOOD GESTURE FROM BLAIR ,HE ONLY HAD TWO CHOICES TO GO TO WAR OR NOT ,HE MADE HIS CHOICE ,AND NOW HE HAS MADE ANOTHER CHOICE AND GIVEN THE MONEY ,I GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR THAT

An admirable gesture which will be of significant benefit .

I am sure cynics will suggest its Mr Blair's attempt to seek redemption,maybe it is.
I would say it is rather more likely to reflect his genuine deepest regret at the deaths and injuries that transpired.

The decision to participate in the American led invasion of Iraq may well have been wrong, a very difficult decision bearing in mind the US would have acted unilaterally and would have held us responsible for Every American Servicemen's death if we had by their standards bottled it.

Participation in Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia was entirely justified.


It also has to be said that Tony Blair was not responsible for one single servicemen or women's decision to join the Armed Services.

I have known many Soldiers socially and professionally I have worked with many ex Servicemen as a Police Officer and the truth is many young men join the army at a time when there is an active operation specifically because of their desire to engage in combat to put it at it's bluntest to shoot people,they also fully understand that people shoot back and take the risks associated with their decisions.

perhaps Mr Blair is giving the money from the sale of his book, so that he may go down in history as a kind and generous ex-prime mínister, who wanted to help disable soldiers, unfortunately he will be to late to give any help to the men he sent into war and who lost their lives, I think that if politicians want to go to war, then it should be them who fight the war, not young lads who have all their lives in front of them, putting on a uniform, and fighting for Queen and country may seem good and even glamorous, but their is nothing glamorous about death and the sorrow of the loved ones left to grieve

Guilty conscience. Americas revenge for 9/11 supported by Blair cajoled his own MPs who should have known better, lied to the British public and ruthlessly destroyed people who knew the truth or didn't agree (Dr David Kelly for one).

Blair didn't act in the best interests of the UK, he acted in the best interests of the US.

I have never had a good word for him and now he does this. His generous and selfless gesture has completely destroyed my faith in human nature.

The man is a monster.

I would respect him a little more if he 'donated' his sons to the army rather than paying some of his loose change in blood money to those who suffered fighting for his ideals.

What a guy! Mr Blair is brilliant and how generous of him. He was and is a great man and I bet labour wish he had stayed as leader. I cannot wait to read his book. All you who knock him.....remember and remember well that you are a patch on him! Tony I salute you.

Good luck to him. It's a substantial amount and will go a long way I'm sure in providing care for our armed forces. He's giving something back which is more than I can say for the anti-war activists who accuse the ex-premier of trying to "buy forgiveness" for bloody campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I would respect him a lot more if he 'donated' his sons to the army rather than paying some of his loose change as blood money to those who fought and suffered for his ideals.

This wasn't a generous or altrusitic gesture; Blair had no choice. He has already earned £12million since he left office; he won't miss it, but
can you imagine what would have been said if he had kept this money?

In typical Blair fashion though, he has this 'generosity' all over the news media, when he could have made the donation with a simple statement and no fuss.

If he'd donated it to charities helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan I might have thought better of him.

Wow. A man that knows he has done wrong tries to show that country that he has a heart and 4/5 of the people here couldn't care less and just feel that insulting his actions in the past is the right thing to do. It's ridiculous.

What next? Outrage as Gary Glitter donates the proceeds of his autobiography to the NSPCC? (sorry for the crude example)

No I will neither buy nor read Mr. Blair's memoirs. No this donation will not change my opinion of him. He took us into both of these wars so donating money to help injured soldiers is the least he can do. His pockets, and those of his family, are already well lined courtesy of his stint as British PM

Donating £4,000,000 plus royalties?
He's not short of a few bob if he can afford to donate this amount.

Of course, some people make generous donations to charity anonymously, for which I have much greater respect!

46. At 7:52pm on 16 Aug 2010, angry_of_garston wrote:

I would respect him a lot more if he 'donated' his sons to the army rather than paying some of his loose change as blood money to those who fought and suffered for his ideals.

Change the CD ...this is the same boring rubbish people like you keep spouting. He's donating a lot of money toward the care of British soldiers.

krokodil wrote:

"What a guy! Mr Blair is brilliant and how generous of him. He was and is a great man and I bet labour wish he had stayed as leader. I cannot wait to read his book. All you who knock him.....remember and remember well that you are a patch on him! Tony I salute you. "

Ah, now all your other posts make sense. A Blair fan - that explains everything. I think you mean NOT a patch on him. And no, we're not. We are not war criminals.

Difficult though it may be, what a pity the British Legion didn't tell him where to stick his money.

This man is just so objectionable, he is doing this for a reason and it will be for himself not the unfortunate soldiers. Hopefully one day he will pay in full for his and Mr Bush's war crimes.

No, I will not buy any politician's memoirs since I have great intuition and the foresight to see through their actions and figure out their intentions/evaluate their results. The Charity should take the donation and even ask for more and for him to build a specialist hospital to treat wounded soldiers and rehabilitate them with first class facilities and that should not change anyone's opinion of him, whether for or against. For sure, there will be a market in the US for the ignorant & gullible who cannot distinquish between those that attacked the US on 9/11 (Al Quaeda) and the Countries called Iraq & Afghanistan.

I'm sorry, but there are some real pathetic remarks posted on here. When we declared war on Germany, thousands of people did not want it, it had nothing to do with us, etc. etc. But look what happend, a cold war, massive increases in nuclear weapons and attrocities the Russians caused against its own people. Eventually however, things have come good with Europe and the relationship we all have with Russia.

I for one supported the Iraq war, not on the basis of what Bush, Blair or anyone else said. Enough was enough with Saddam and the cruelty he placed on his own people and the way he wound up neighbouring countries would have put more in jeopardy with the wider world, than anything the Iraq war did. Yes, there were mistakes and lots of innocent people died as well as many brave armed forces from the the UK, US and other countries.

Some people will always claim that it was an illegal war, and that is their choice for whatever reason that may be. Others just have their own agenda. There is always a bigger picture and that picture has not been finished yet. Before passing judgement people need to look at history and also take into account what has happend over the past 10 years, why we are, where we are and also look at the agenda some groups are aiming for. I believe in democracy and would defend it till I die, some want to get rid of that and force their own laws on us.

Isn't democracy what our brave soldiers in WW2 fought for and we all celebrate them don't we?

Tony wanted his Maggie Thatcher, Falklands moment.
Sadly for him, and many British troops, it didn't work out.
Now he's a Catholic, he has to repent his sins.
Hence he wants to fill the Catholic begging bowl to ease his conscience.

As Tony Bliar is the person most to blame for causing the hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries to British service personnel it is only fitting that he donates the money to a worthy cause.

If only we could find a way of getting our hands on his and his wifes other millions too and perhaps show future leaders of this country what will happen to them if they go against the voters wishes.......

I support Blair in this gesture - I wonder if a Tory politician will reciprocate?

46. At 7:52pm on 16 Aug 2010, angry_of_garston wrote:
I would respect him a lot more if he 'donated' his sons to the army rather than paying some of his loose change as blood money to those who fought and suffered for his ideals.
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I really do miss the reccommend button!

Well said!!

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This is reported as the largest single donation received by the Royal British Legion. Not only has no other British politician donated as much but no other British person has (and there are plenty who could).

Tony Blair did not have to give this money. He certainly did not have to give this much. Whatever his motivaiton, he put his money where his mouth is to support those wounded fighting for Britain.

I wonder how much money his critics have donated to charity? The British Legion is millions of pounds the richer thanks to his generosity. A pity the cynics can't follow his example.

steve butler wrote:

Difficult though it may be, what a pity the British Legion didn't tell him where to stick his money.

Nice ..so sorry lads no money after all because the illegal war brigade say its blood money and have told the British Legion to tell Tony to stick it!

Pathetic ...this is a substantial amount of money going to help young British soldiers and all people like you can do is call Blair a war criminal.

Im sure that the money will be put to good use. No doubt about that. The British Legion will be elated. Im also sure that if Blair had kept the profits, everyone would be saying "There are all those soldiers suffering and the greedy man responsible makes money out of it" Much as I dislike him, much as I am suspicious of his motives, I cant help feeling that he cant win. Whatever he does, he will be slated. He is a hate figure who will never be given the benefit of the doubt and maybe rightly so. But what is done is done. It really is time for people to move on.

Are there no depths to which this sad excuse of a has-been sink?
Well, it's one way of boosting sales.
I have no doubt he's still going to receive some sort of payment.
I can't deny that any money given to help our soldiers is good money but... hmm... coming from this source it tastes too much like blood money and a cynical PR exercise.
I still have no intention of buying his book.

Given how many soldiers have been killed BECAUSE of him and his pal George Bush, it is hypocrisy to a staggering degree! Does he think he's buying mediaeval indulgences?

It seems to have skipped Teflon Tony's mind that HE sent those kids to be murdered to further Bush's ego, HE sent them to Afghanistan to be killed & maimed by the same folk NewLieMore then protect when they turn into hijackers.

The only thing B'liar need to do is surrender to a war crimes trial! He makes me sick!

Tony Blair never doubted the consequences of the various wars that British troops took part in during his watch. This is one way that he has chosen to put his money where his mouth is.

I for one never doubted his sincerity or integrity. Good for him.

Yes, what about sending his sons into the army.
A more profound gesture.
Full of catholic sacrifice.
No, anything to do with this shabby man is too unbearable.

Is this a ploy, a trade off against the ex PM security and protection that we will all pay for.
I bet that he is getting worried that this perk will be soon curtailed. - it is worth more than the proceeds from his self aggrandising book which will probably not sell as well as Mandy's.

AndyS wrote:

"I'm sorry, but there are some real pathetic remarks posted on here........Some people will always claim that it was an illegal war, and that is their choice for whatever reason that may be."

The rest of your post is just too disgusting to repeat. To compare what this "person" did to what we had to do in WW2 is despicable.

Michael Wood, who was the SENIOR legal adviser to the blair government, said the war was illegal. As have many, many other legal experts since then. But then you probably know better than all of them right?

I suggest you do a little more research before making utterly ridiculous and offensive posts. He is a war criminal. End of story.

steve butler wrote:
krokodil wrote:

"What a guy! Mr Blair is brilliant and how generous of him. He was and is a great man and I bet labour wish he had stayed as leader. I cannot wait to read his book. All you who knock him.....remember and remember well that you are a patch on him! Tony I salute you. "

Ah, now all your other posts make sense. A Blair fan - that explains everything. I think you mean NOT a patch on him. And no, we're not. We are not war criminals.

Difficult though it may be, what a pity the British Legion didn't tell him where to stick his money.
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WOW you picked up on a typo! Yes I supported Blair......as did the majority of the electorate. Whats your point? War Criminal..........where is the indictment or prosecution? Or is it just a figment of your far left imagination........

Yet again a post that mentions Alistar Campbell is censored!

How boring and predictable, I should know better than to criticise the BBC's chosen one!

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RichardGrey wrote:

"I support Blair in this gesture - I wonder if a Tory politician will reciprocate?"

LOL - you really do have to admire the effectiveness of the blinkers these socialists wear.

He is donating this money to ease his guilty conscience. he was the one who lied - the tory's crime was to believe him. At least the liberals saw through it.

Loving the anti blair bile and invective spewed forth.....Tony Blair the undefeated legend who smashed the forces of the far left and far right, the conqueror of Iraq, the hero of Britain......He stands over you all like a colossus! Now pay your respects!

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I'd say that this guilt and that he is ruing the day he wagged his tail at Bush....

Tony Blair to me is just a showman, like the rest of the party he led all me me me, no wonder he ripped the paper trail up when he left.

Thanks Tony you sure have made this Country greater.... greater debt that we all need to pay off after you and your party left!

Sorry I've no time for him, he's a guy I never and could ever trust so he can do what he likes, I won't be singing his praises.

Here's an idea. Let every world leader who wants to lead us into war DONATE at least one close family member of theirs into the army to go and be killed in battle. Guess how many wars would then fought following such a global law? No prizes for guessing!!!

At 5Million he got off easy.

A lot of folk donated their children to his war, and they didn't come back.

Blair, you can give all you have EVERY SINGLE PENNY, but your hands still with have blood of many on them, even in your grave, YOUR BONES WILL STILL HAVE BLOOD STAINS.

Your SMOKE SCREENING book royalties dont fool anyone ..but you maybe.
Your nationwide book tour will cost the country enough in portecting you yet again..streets will be closed no doubt.
You ran the NHS down so much that it couldnt afford to treat returning military or anyone in desperate need of specialist treatment.. Are You Proud?

This wasn't a generous or altrusitic gesture; Blair had no choice. He has already earned £12million since he left office; he won't miss it, but
can you imagine what would have been said if he had kept this money?

In typical Blair fashion though, he has this 'generosity' all over the news media, when he could have made the donation with a simple statement and no fuss.
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Of course he had a choice He could have done what the vast majority of our rich landowning aristocracy and city financiers do (Blair's money is Peanuts by their standards any way) and keep it all!

Just face it it's an altruistic act which the Blair haters cant bring themselves to accept.

In a world as it is it would probably do more good than harm.

However, this squishy, rather queasy preoccupation with charity leaves me sceptical.

The sum total of money raised by all the charities in the UK could be equalled by a very small increase in tax, and this would free all those working for them to do something else of direct benefit with their time. the money could also be directed more efficiently.

I was once in the company of a well-paid individual at a social gathering. He impressed many by his proposal to do a sponsored parachute jump for charity. I offered to pay him twice the amount he had been pledged (a couple of hundred), provided he did NOT do the jump. he declined, backed up by much hissing from other guests. So it would appear that the reason for his proposal was not much to do with raising money. However, it might just have had something to do with his trying to rehabilitate himself after the end of an affair for which he had left his wife, and with whom he sought reacceptance. I'm not saying all charity work has such a motive, but it so often does seem the first refuge and defence of a scoundrel.

mbyronhehir wrote:

steve butler wrote:

Difficult though it may be, what a pity the British Legion didn't tell him where to stick his money.

Nice ..so sorry lads no money after all because the illegal war brigade say its blood money and have told the British Legion to tell Tony to stick it!

Pathetic ...this is a substantial amount of money going to help young British soldiers and all people like you can do is call Blair a war criminal.
___________________________________________________________________

What magnificent logic.

So you would take money from any source would you? Drug money? Money from people trafficking?

You clearly have no morals so we can assume the answer will be yes.

1. At 6:44pm on 16 Aug 2010, luskentyre wrote:
I think it's an extremely generous and touching gesture. If you're cynical enough to question his motives then I'm afraid that says more about your morals than those of Tony Blair.

Judge a person by what they choose to do, not what they have to do.

____________________________________________________

He chose to invade Iraq.

Nothing wrong with my morals..

John Campbell wrote this :"Because we once trusted Tony Blair."

Did you? Then you were a bloody idiot, weren't you!? I don't trust ANY politician, and never have done. Anyone who does (apart from the useful idiots and camp followers) is also an absolute bloody idiot. Do you people not yet understand? The job of the politician is to make money, both for themselves but, much more importantly, for the multi national corporations. I am amazed at the naivty and gullibility of the UK public.

I would respect him a lot more if he 'donated' his sons to the army rather than paying some of his loose change as blood money to those who fought and suffered for his ideals.
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I really do miss the reccommend button!

Well said!!
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Actually its a really dumb comment. No one donates their children to the army in the UK conscription ended in the 1950's.

People make the decision to join themselves and accept the consequences of their own decisions.

If Mr Blair's children wished to join the armed forces I have no doubt Mr Blair like any other caring parent would be concerned for their safety but accept that it is their decision not his to make!

At 8:24pm on 16 Aug 2010, Deputydave62 wrote:
This is reported as the largest single donation received by the Royal British Legion. Not only has no other British politician donated as much but no other British person has (and there are plenty who could).

Tony Blair did not have to give this money. He certainly did not have to give this much. Whatever his motivaiton, he put his money where his mouth is to support those wounded fighting for Britain.
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HE didnt have to send them into an illegal war...Regime Change is NOT a reason to take our lads to war....HE should have let the yanks get on with it...it would have been all over by now. (notes none of his sons joined up)

HE caused the need for the new unit....LET HIM give the nation a smoke screen and blood money to The British Legion to cover up the DECLINE in the NHS while he was in office......but the blood on his hands will never disappear..his bones will still have the blood stains on them.

What kind of idiotic question is that? What should any of us care what Blair does with his money, as long as it's not ours? Really, is the BBC so devoid of ideas for discussion that we have to descend to such trivia?

Since the profits will go to a good cause, lets hope the Book sells well. If you don't want to don't read it.
Better still send the purchase price directly to the British Legion.

I'm beginning to notice what I see as a worrying trend, often encouraged by the Media

It seems we're becoming inceasingly obsessed with what this or that celebrity does or does not give to charity

What any person, rich or poor, gives to charity is none of anyone's business

No-one, whatever their circumstances should be pressurised by the public into saying what they give to charity

If a rich person sets up a charitable foundation, then that is obviously public knowledge but private giving should be just that

Just because a celebrity doesn't make a public announcement, doesn't mean that they don't give to charity, maybe they just like to keep it private

In this particular instance, Tony Blair has made public what he is doing and therefore brings upon himself praise, blame and the questioning of his motives

From an ealier comment..

"...Off the top of my head Katie Price and Wayne Rooney kept all the profits from their books. If you want to criticise anyone criticise them..."

Why criticise them at all, we don't know what they do with their money, nor should we expect to know

Lol, this is a joke right!

He is basically donating the drippings from his nose to the Royal British Legion, when you take into account the amount that he & his mrs have made out of this.

It doesn't undo all the damage this man has done. It doesn't bring back lost lives.

It is pocket change to him.

Why didn't he announce that he was donating the money to charity when he signed the book deal? Why wait until now to make this announcement?

While any donation to charity is to be commended, this gesture just seems like part of the publicity build up to the book launch.

Should we then also praise BP for their selflessness and generosity, as they too spent a load of their money to help clean up the mess they caused?

Liar, war criminal, traitor to his party and the people who counted on him, and now, finally, hypocrite.

Even Margaret Thatcher is less despicible than this man

I notice Thatcher never gave a penny of her own money to Falklands victims, veterans or their families. Says it all. Blair cares about the people he governed, Thatcher was indifferent to the minnions she controlled.

That's why Blair will always be better than Thatcher.

35. At 7:30pm on 16 Aug 2010, Tony wrote:
I'm sure there will be plenty of shameless Blair Sympathisers coming out the woodwork saying 'Poor Tony ... he's Damned if he does and Damned if he doesnt'!
Well for once I agree with them!
'Damned' is exactly the word that best describes him and deservedly so!

I wish I had written the post I've pasted above. Simply because Tony has hit the nail right on the head. No matter how much money Tony Blair has made I wouldn't trade places with him for an instant. I'm not much of a person to speak of, and I don't have loads of cash, and I have a very ordinary job, and I'm not much to look at either. But there is one thing I can do very easily. I sleep well at nights with no guily conscience because I've never caused anyone to be seriously injured or killed either by my actions, or inactions. I seriously doubt that Mr Blair, should he truly look into his heart, could say the same.

At 8:36pm on 16 Aug 2010, pzero wrote:
Yet again a post that mentions Alistar Campbell is censored!

How boring and predictable, I should know better than to criticise the BBC's chosen one!
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call me curious, but I really dont like seeing this...now I am wondering what was said...cant we have ****** to block out offensive words ie swearing, inflammatory words or obscene please.

@steve butler and his illegal war like.

You're an ill informed cynic and that's me being far too polite!

This is assuming that there will be any profits.

Will you buy a copy? answers on a postage stamp please.