The profitable delusion shared by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair

Tony Blair and Bill Clinton must be very happy about how they have fared since leaving political office, for each has since become enormously rich. Tony Blair may well be the richest British prime minister since the 14th Earl of Derby in the 19th century, and Bill Clinton is among the ten richest American presidents ever (richer even, it is said, than President Kennedy) — not bad for the child of a junior tax inspector in Edinburgh and for one from a poor and dysfunctional family in Hope, Arkansas. But to temper our envy we may note that what they have gained in wealth they have been losing in reputation.

This is especially true of Blair, whose permatan, chartered private jet, and ‘good body’ so creepily admired by Wendi Deng would make him impossible to take seriously even if he hadn’t messed up over Iraq. And the sense that he is some kind of alien is strengthened by his consultancy deals with such countries as Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Abu Dhabi. He may now be worth some £70 million, but at the cost of losing all credibility as an elder statesman of the British Labour party.

Although Blair can astonishingly earn as much as £250,000 a time for private speeches and appearances, his consultancies provide far the greatest part of his income. Clinton, on the other hand, has made his fortune almost entirely from speech-making. The Washington Post reports that for 542 speeches made around the world between January 2001 and January 2013 Clinton has been paid $104.9 million (about £62 million). Though anyone would obviously rather hear a speech by Clinton than one by Blair, it seems incredible that even the great charmer himself should be in perpetual demand as a speaker for such enormous fees.