A closer look at Tony Blair’s tarnished reputation

Once regarded as something of a sun king and one of ‘us’, he’s portrayed as now being part of that rich globalist elite that he once seemed to want to at least restrain, writes Sean O’Grady

Every time he’s tried to intervene in a debate with some thoughtful constructive ideas on some great current issue, two words always crop up: Iraq and hypocrite (Getty)

It’s obviously embarrassing for Tony Blair that one of the more interesting stories that emerged from the Pandora Papers is how he and his wife, Cherie Booth, were beneficiaries of a property purchase arrangement – perfectly legal – that meant they avoided paying £300,000 in stamp duty on a property in London. In their defence they say that they did not break any laws, the property was acquired “in a normal way through reputable estate agents” and that they had “never used offshore schemes either to hide transactions or avoid tax”.

For the record, then: the four-storey building purchased by the Blairs was previously owned by an offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands. At the time of the deal the firm, named Romanstone International Limited, was partially owned by Zayed Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain's minister for industry, commerce and tourism. The Blairs bought the building by establishing a British company named Harcourt Ventures to acquire the shares in Romanstone, the leaked documents claim. They each held a 50 per cent individual stake in the firm which was also registered for VAT. There is no suggestion the Blairs actively tried to avoid paying the tax and they say they “will of course be liable for capital gains tax on resale”.

Make of that, then, want you will – and people certainly have, and there have been some withering allegations of hypocrisy (an extremely serious crime when committed by a Labour politician and placed before the court of public opinion by the British press). One politician who knows Blair well commented: “We must tackle abuse of the tax system. For those who can employ the right accountants, the tax system is a haven of scams, perks, City deals and profits.”