Cherie Blair starts controversial tour
Ms Blair is expected to dine at a Florida club which has been accused of racism against Jews and Blacks in the past
Cherie Blair will net 30,000 British Pounds (USD 52,000) for speaking in Florida about her new book which tells of her life at 10 Downing Street, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The news irked the British public which has accused Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife of cashing in on her husband’s political career to make a fortune. Among other bookings, Blair will speak at the Society of the Four Arts club, in Palm Springs, Florida. Before delivering her speech, Mrs Blair is expected to lunch at a private members’ club, Everglades, which has been accused of racism against blacks and Jews in the past, The Times reported.
Blair was invited by millionaire widow, Maureen Donnell (74), who in 2005 claimed that local authorities are discriminative against Christians in the town for erecting a Menorah for Hanukah while refusing to set up a nativity scene.
Donnell won took her case to the court and won.
In 2002, Blair caused uproar when she expressed sympathies for Palestinian suicide bombers, soon after a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus killed 19 people.
'Commercial lectures inappropriate'
The Society of the Four Arts club in Florida will cover Mrs. Blair’s flight and stay with her son Niki. She will lecture for 40 minutes and answer questions for 20 minutes in return for USD 52,000.
Blair’s tour of North American will earn her an estimated 150,000 British Pounds (USD 259,000). The Blairs have 4 million pounds in mortgages for which they pay 16,000 pounds (USD 27,850).
Blair is reported to have been using the revenues from her speeches to repay the family’s mortgages, which include a house in central London.
Some MPs said Cherie’s “commercial lectures are inappropriate” and called on Downing Street to declare her additional income. She earns 250,000 pounds (USD 452,500) a year from her job as a top human rights barrister. Mr. Blair earns 183,000 a year (USD 316,600).
Downing Street said Saturday that Mrs. Blair was not the guest of any one individual and added that the society included prominent Jewish figures.
