Tony Blair told by Azerbaijan victims: 'Give your £90,000 speaker's fee to charity'

[JohnyCanuck]

His visit was a coup for the country's rulers as his well-known grin beamed out on state television from a press conference to homes throughout the small, oil-rich nation.

Now opposition groups and British MPs have complained, that although Mr Blair had every right to visit the country, he missed a golden opportunity to criticise its human rights abuses. They are insisting he should donate his fee to charity.

Earlier this year, David Plouffe, a former senior aide to Barack Obama, was castigated for giving a speech in Azerbaijan - booked through the same Washington-based public speaking agency as Mr Blair. In the wake of the outcry he agreed to hand his fee to a group promoting democracy in the region.

Peter Kilfoyle, a Labour MP who in the mid 1990s helped run Mr Blair's Labour leadership campaign, said: "The very least he can do is donate is fee to a charity that works in the area of human rights.

http://mytechnologyworld9.blogspot.com/2009/12/tony-blair-told-by-azerbaijan-victims.html

Don't anyone hold their breath waiting for this to happen. Phony Tony bLIAR is using his bloodstained hands to scoop up as much cash as he can while the going is good. At the back of his mind is an awareness he might need every bit of it to pay his lawyers at a war crimes trial.