Tony Blair to get advisory role if Socialists elected

TIRANA, May 21 – Several British newspapers have focused on news that the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, will get a paying job in Albania to advise the new government, if the elections are won by the opposition Socialist Party.
The news came after a meeting of Socialist leader Edi Rama in London last week, where he met with Blair. Rama directly asked Blair’s advice and said Blair’s team would be stationed in Tirana when he comes to power and becomes prime minister, while Blair himself will make frequent visits to Albania.
Questions remain as to the funds that will be required to keep Blair and his team on Albania’s payroll.
“Blair has agreed to advise the next government of Albania, opening the way for a deal which could be worth millions of pounds,” wrote one British newspaper.
Rama said last week that Blair will act as a consultant, starting next month after elections, which Rama says he is expected to win. Blair’s role was agreed at a meeting at his office in Grosvenor Square, central London.
Rama said on Twitter: “An excellent meeting with Tony Blair. We agreed that after June 23, he and his team will work with us for good governance. Fantastic!”
The Socialist Party subsequently issued photographs and video footage of the meeting. In the video, Blair said: “I will be very happy to help you; I am very interested in your country.”
In a press statement, a Socialist Party spokesman said: “With Tony Blair and his team we will have on our side a very important partner, with a unique experience and all the right advice to build a successful government and to make a reality of our program for an Albanian Renaissance.”
A spokesman for Blair said: “Mr. Rama met Tony Blair in London last week. As was accurately reported on Albanian TV, Mr. Rama said that if he became PM, he would like Mr. Blair’s advice on how to modernize government and implement a reform agenda.”
He added, “Mr. Blair said that he would be happy to help, as both Albania and the region meant a huge amount to him, the conflict in Kosovo having been an important period in his premiership. That was the sum total of the discussion about any work that Mr. Blair and his team might do there.”
The spokesman added that it has also been accurately reported in the Albanian media that Alastair Campbell has been advising the Socialist Party on election strategy.
Albania hopes to join the European Union and it is likely that Blair’s advice on how to do that as well as how to implement New Labor-style domestic reforms will be high on his agenda.
Independent analysts say that if Rama wins the election and starts the deal, should immediately make clear how much he is going to pay Blair and be transparent. And he should also make it clear that such consultancy will be for the country, and not for his political party, they add.
There are examples in Albania with the existing Democratic Party government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, in which he has already signed contracts with two U.S. lobbying companies allegedly to lobby for the country in the U.S, media and government. However, there have been concerns much of the lobbying takes place to benefit Berisha’s Democrats rather than for the entire country.
Blair’s appointment in Albania would follow lucrative deals with governments in Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Brazil and Colombia, according to the British press. He set up his Government Advisory Practice shortly after quitting Downing Street in 2007, enlisting Jonathan Powell, his former chief of staff, and Alastair Campbell, his former director of communications.