Mystery as Euan Blair buys flat in London for £550,000

Euan Blair, the son of the former prime minister, is thought to be the new owner of a £550,000 two-bedroom flat in Islington, north London – despite not starting his graduate traineeship at the bank Morgan Stanley until the end of this month.

Mr Blair, 24, has been seen coming and going from the flat, and Debbie Valentine, a conveyancing solicitor for the firm Russell, Jones and Walker, confirmed to the Mail on Sunday: "I am acting for Euan Blair on this matter. I am unable to comment further." Callers to the estate agency Foxtons were told that the asking price had been met.

Tony Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, insisted last night that the Blairs had not bought the property for their son – a purchase which would have made it the seventh in the couple's property portfolio, after the constituency home in Trimdon Colliery; the two Bristol flats; the £3.65m Connaught Square townhouse in central London and adjoining £800,000 mews up-down; and the £5m Buckinghamshire country home formerly inhabited by Sir John Gielgud.

When asked by The Independent whether Euan had bought the flat himself, the spokesman did not deny it but declined to elaborate.

At £550,000, and taking into account mortgage lenders' current caution, it is unlikely that Euan Blair, who is probably paid about £30,000 at Morgan Stanley, would have been able to afford the property on his own.

Since leaving office Tony Blair has built up a substantial income from speaking engagements, memoir writing and consultancy work.