JOBS FOR THE BOY

by RAY FLEMING
EVERY week brings news of a new job for Tony Blair. Yesterday Yale University, one of the prestigious “Ivy League” of American universities, announced that Mr Blair is to lecture there on the role of faith in the modern world. The work at Yale will be part-time but since leaving Downing Street last year Mr Blair has gathered a remarkable number of part-time jobs; some of those employing him must be beginning to wonder how much of his time they will get. He is special envoy for the UN/EU/US/Russia Quartet which is supposed to be active in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians; he is advising Rwanda on how to attract private investment; he is advising the Swiss insurer Zurich on “developments and trends in the international political environment” and the American investment firm J P Morgan in a “senior advisory capacity”. In addition, of course, he has signed a reported five million pound deal with an American publisher for his Downing Street memoirs. Then there are the persistent rumours that he is in line for the new job of President of the EU Council under the Lisbon Treaty; those, and there are many, who do not want him in that position will be pleased to see how busy he is elsewhere. The remarkable thing, surely, is that so many people want Mr Blair's advice despite the fact that on the single most important thing he did as prime minister - the Iraq war - he got almost everything wrong.