The “substantial financial reserves” of TBA – roughly £8.9m according to the accounts – would now be given to his not-for-profit activities, he said.
Advertisement
Around £8m will be “gifted” to his non-profit ventures, a source told HuffPost UK.
He is also thought to receive £115,000 a year from government to carry out his public work, while his security team – including round-the-clock armed police protection is believed to cost at least £250,000 a year.
In a statement released this week, Mr Blair announced the closure of both Tony Blair Associates and its underlying structures under the names “Firerush” and “Windrush”.
Following a review of his business interests, Mr Blair said he had made a decision to refocus his activities and would give the “substantial financial reserves” generated by his businesses in recent years to not-for-profit causes.
The 63-year-old said he would still hold personal consultancy roles, but 80 percent of his time would now be spent on unpaid work. “I want to expand our activities and bring everything under one roof”.
“I want now to concentrate the vast bulk of my time on the not-for-profit work which we do”, he said.
Blair, 63, was Labour prime minister for 10 years from 1997 and was later a Middle East envoy for eight years. “De facto, this has been the case in the past two years but we need to reflect this change in the way we are structured”.
Windrush, which channels money for Blair’s government advisory business, more than tripled its profits in the 2014/15 financial year to £2.6 million (three million euros, $3.4 million).
Tony Blair Associates (TBA) has worked with countries including oil-rich Kazakhstan and its autocrat President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled virtually unopposed since before independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Mr Blair won’t totally remove himself from the business world.
Advertisement
In an announcement posted on his website, Mr Blair said he will retain some personal consultancies for his own income.
