Tony Blair expands business empire
Tony Blair has set up a company that can provide investment services to funds and individuals. The former prime minister’s Mayfair-based firm has recruited senior financiers and been authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The move could...
Tony Blair has set up a company that can provide investment services to funds and individuals.
The former prime minister’s Mayfair-based firm has recruited senior financiers and been authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The move could pave the way for another extension of Mr Blair’s business activities – which are thought to have earned him more than £20 million since leaving Downing Street three years ago.
However, Mr Blair’s spokesman dismissed the idea that he was planning to create a bank or finance house as “fatuous”.
FSA documents show Firerush Ventures No 3 will trade as Tony Blair Associates, and is permitted to “arrange deals in investments” for clients.
From January this year it could also “make arrangements with a view to transactions in investments”.
However, it is not allowed to hold client money - meaning it cannot carry out many traditional banking functions.
Financiers Varun Chandra and Mark Labovitch have been FSA-registered to act on behalf of Firerush, along with some of Mr Blair’s long-term aides.
They include his Number 10 chief of staff Jonathan Powell, and Catherine Rimmer, who worked in the Downing Street research unit.
A spokesman for the former premier said: “The very idea that Tony Blair is starting a bank or finance house for the super-rich is fatuous. As we explained at the time, FSA approval was simply sought out of an abundance of caution. Tony Blair Associates provides strategic advice on a commercial and pro-bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform.”
Last week, Mr Blair announced he was donating the estimated £5 million proceeds from his forthcoming memoirs, A Journey, to the Royal British Legion.