It is clear from US government pronouncements since the beginning of the public demonstrations in Syria that the Obama Administration wants the leadership in Syria to survive. Unlike its response to demonstrations in some other countries in the region, there have been no US demands for regime change in Syria nor any calls for military intervention, criticism has been relatively muted and punitive sanctions – by not being aimed directly at President Assad – have been intended more as a caution than as an instrument to hurt the leadership.6
It is not clear how BLJ came to this remarkable conclusion. Sometimes a PR company will tell its clients whatever it thinks they wish to hear, but we have no evidence that this was what happened in this case. BLJ had had a lot to do with Syria. The American Foreign Agents Registration Act requires lobbying companies to register the names of foreign principals, and BLJ has registered just one: a Mr Fares Kallas, whose address is given as Office of the First Lady of the Syrian Arab Republic in Damascus. In 2010 it signed a contract with the Syrian government to handle an interview with the First Lady in the American Vogue magazine. It charged $5,000 a month plus expenses, and it was worth every dime, judging by the results. The Vogue piece, of March 2011, all copies of which seem to have been removed from the Internet, began,
Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic – the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies. Her style is not the couture-and-bling dazzle of Middle Eastern power but a deliberate lack of adornment …
Syria is known as the safest country in the Middle East, possibly because, as the State Department’s website says, ‘the Syrian government conducts intense physical and electronic surveillance of both Syrian citizens and foreign visitors.’ It’s a secular country where women earn as much as men and the Muslim veil is forbidden in universities, a place without bombings, unrest, or kidnappings, but its shadow zones are deep and dark. Asma’s husband, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in 2000, after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, with a startling 97 percent of the vote. In Syria, power is hereditary. The country’s alliances are murky. How close are they to Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah? There are souvenir Hezbollah ashtrays in the souk, and you can spot the Hamas leadership racing through the bar of the Four Seasons …
Tony Blair yearns for a role in the Syrian business, and attacked his successor as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, for preventing British intervention. It’s an odd irony that, if Miliband had followed Blair’s advice, Britain would have been bombing Assad’s bases, presumably at the same time as it was bombing Assad’s enemies, the Islamic State.
Some small consolation came in December 2013 when Pope Francis invited him to come to the Vatican and discuss what might be done about the conflict. It wasn’t much. A one-day meeting in January 2014 alongside former Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, US economist Jeffrey Sachs, US religious expert Thomas Walsh, former Russian diplomat Pyotr Stegny, Lebanese Middle East expert Joseph Maila, Spanish diplomat Miguel Angel Moratinos and French economist Thierry de Montbrial. Hardly a stellar line-up. The idea was to discuss ways of promoting a ceasefire in Syria, protecting the Christians there and ‘furthering a transitional and unified government’.
John Watts, according to his LinkedIn entry, is now managing director of BLJ Worldwide. He lists his former employers as 10 Downing Street and the Labour Party, and his base as Qatar; his picture shows him on a football field, presumably to emphasise his success in bringing the World Cup to Qatar.
This last was a considerable lobbying achievement. You might have thought someone would have pointed out at the time that the temperature in Qatar when the World Cup is played is likely to be so hot as to pose a real risk to players, and even more to spectators. You might have thought FIFA would take notice of the fact that Qatar was the only one of nine bidders for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments where there was a high risk of a terrorist attack on the competition, according to a report FIFA itself commissioned.7 It might have concerned it that, as Frances O’Grady of the TUC had pointed out, foreign construction workers on the World Cup site would face working conditions that would make them little more than slaves. It takes lobbying skill of a high order to overcome such weighty objections.
The new FA chairman, Greg Dyke, is trying to unscramble the mess, calling for the competition to be moved either to a time when Qatar’s temperature will be tolerable or to somewhere else. As we write, the betting is that it will be moved to January, which will keep faith with Qatar, but will severely disrupt British and European domestic football.
‘I don’t know how many people have been to Qatar in June. I have,’ Dyke told Sky News. ‘The one thing I can tell you is you can’t play a football tournament in Qatar in June.’ How was FIFA persuaded to make this extraordinary decision?
BLJ Worldwide’s website disappeared shortly after we began the research for this book, but has now been reinstated. Its Qatar clients include the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid and, on its home page, it hails the achievement thus:
CHANGING A COUNTRY’S DESTINY. BLJ Worldwide led the landmark international communications campaign that helped Qatar win the right to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup, transforming the future of a country and a region.
How did it do it?
BLJ utilized an array of strategic communications – including public diplomacy, by introducing one country to another in innovative ways – while working on the campaign. We developed messaging that focused on the benefits of hosting the World Cup in the Middle East, and specifically in Qatar. We worked with key journalists in the sports and news sectors in key countries, securing high-profile interviews and story placements in broadcast and trade media.
The present authors are not quite sure how you go about ‘introducing one country to another in innovative ways’.
ENTER THE HOTSHOT BANKER
Another key player in Blair’s relationship with Qatar is Michael Klein (whom we shall meet again when we discuss Guinea in Chapter 11). Blair’s business relationship with Klein goes back to the long-drawn-out merger between Glencore – the world’s biggest commodities trading company set up by Marc Rich – and Xstrata, a mining company.
Marc Rich was an American commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier and businessman, indicted for tax evasion and trading with Iran and controversially pardoned as President Clinton’s last act in office. Former President Jimmy Carter said, ‘I don’t think there is any doubt that some of the factors in his pardon were attributable to his large gifts. In my opinion, that was disgraceful.’8
The merger gathered speed in early 2012, but there were frequent stumbling blocks. One was the position of Qatar Holdings, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, which wanted to improve the terms. Qatar Holdings had between 11 per cent and 12 per cent of Xstrata and was the largest shareholder in Xstrata after Glencore, which had acquired more than a third of the company. Qatar Holdings eventually agreed to the price.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Blair had helped broker the deal with Qatar Holdings, leading to its acceptance of the offer. The Daily Telegraph reported that Blair was advising Glencore, although it also noted that Blair had advised Qatar in the past.9 The Financial Times noted that Blair had brought together Glencore’s chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani.10 Al Thani oversees Qatar Holdings and the oil-and-gas-rich Gulf state’s other sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. According to someone who was then a business associate of Blair’s, Michael Klein worked on this with Hamad bin Jassim, and brought Blair into it because Blair had a close relationship with Hamad bin Jassim.
At the foot of a press release (containing the names of bankers and banks involved in the deal) issued on 7 February 2012, was written ‘M. Klein and company, LLC and its affiliates Michael Klein Strategic consultant to each of Xstrata and Glencore.’ Klein’s role was regarded as unusual, as advisers are typically hired by one side of a deal only.
Blair’s links with Klein have expanded the former prime minist
er’s banking network at the highest levels. Klein was a Citibanker – one of a group of financiers famous for their international connections – and he had made it to the head of Citi’s global corporate investment bank in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It was reported in the Wall Street Journal that Klein had ‘built up a reputation as especially close to Middle Eastern billionaires such as Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed , a major investor in Citigroup’. The paper also reported that he had arranged Abu Dhabi’s $7.5 billion capital infusion into Citi.11
Klein, who had been tipped as a possible head of the bank, left Citibank in July 2008, shortly after Vikram Pandit took over its management. Klein quickly found a niche as an independent adviser to big companies, advising Bob Diamond, the head of Barclays, on buying the core assets of Lehman Brothers, after its demise. He also advised Dubai, which was struggling with the debt accumulated by Dubai World. Moreover, it is understood that Klein proffered his banking and financial engineering services to the British government when it was thrashing around and struggling to contain the banking crisis of 2008.
We learn from Euromoney that Michael Klein has a ‘banking boutique’. Blair is clearly someone he can call on when he needs a door opened or some sweet-talking for a client. The magazine wrote,
The kiosk is basically a bit of a status symbol. No effort is made to dress the organization up as a corporate entity, espousing team effort and client-focused mission statements. The kiosk is all about the principal and it’s obvious that the principal has amazingly strong client relationships because otherwise he wouldn’t be appearing on the top line of the deal. In a way, kiosks are doing for star investment bankers what hedge funds did for star traders.12
Whether he is a client of Blair or Blair one of his clients may be a moot point.
The MailOnline website reported on 15 September 2012, ‘Klein and Blair know each other through their mutual connections to Abu Dhabi, where Blair is on the payroll of Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund that invests Abu Dhabi’s vast oil profits.’13
Michael Klein’s connections with Blair led to speculation that the two men might merge their interests, although this has been denied by Blair’s office. As a master of networking, Blair can draw on Klein’s contacts in Middle Eastern financial institutions. That facility chimes well with Blair’s political connections. While the partnership may stay sub rosa, it also remains powerful.
THE IRISH DIMENSION
Blair’s links with Qatar came to light in 2010, when he put the Qatari Prime Minister in touch with the Irish businessman Patrick McKillen. McKillen was seeking £70 million to buy the Maybourne hotel group from the Barclay brothers. The Guardian noted, ‘Emails between McKillen’s staff and Tony Blair Associates reveal the ex-Prime Minister’s firm was willing to approach leaders in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman in the search for finance. Blair’s former chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, was also willing to offer his help.’
The Guardian reported that the High Court in London heard that the colourful Belfast-born businessman met Sheikh Hamed’s son Sheikh Jassim in the lobby of Claridge’s to discuss a possible investment. McKillen said, ‘During the meeting Sheik Jassim said that Tony Blair and his father [Sheikh Hamed] had been doing business in Doha and the issue of Maybourne came up. Tony Blair had suggested that they should make contact with Paddy McKillen.’14
He denied the Qatari deal was done by Blair acting as his agent. He said, ‘No, it came purely from a discussion in Doha between an ex-head of state and head of state. I’m not sure what business they were doing but the two gentlemen are very close.’ As we have seen, Blair’s tentacles continue to spread globally, and not least across to the Atlantic, where he has a legacy of support and contacts.
Notes
1 The Guardian, 2 February 2011: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011
/feb/02/ccc-construction-high-court-contempt
2 www.uk.practicallaw.com, 26 May 2011: http://uk.practicallaw.com/5-506-1731?sd=plc
3 Independent, 24 March 2010: http://www.independent.co.uk/
news/uk/politics/so-is-there-any-truth-in-stephen-
byers-claims-that-he-was-able-to-alter-policy-1926156.html
4 The Guardian, 2 February 2011: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/
feb/02/ccc-construction-high-court-contempt
5 Union News, 28 August 2014: http://union-news.co.uk/2014/08/forced-
labour-university-college-london-campus/
6 http://wikileaks.org/syria-files/docs/2089956_
political-communications.html
7 Sunday Times, 15 June 2014
8 Los Angeles Times, 21 February 2001: http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/21/news/mn-28265
9 Daily Telegraph, 8 September 2012: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/9527478/
Glencore-and-Xstrata-merger-descends-into-acrimony.html
10 Financial Times, 4 July 2013: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dc99ef1e-
de45-11e2-9b47-00144feab7de.html#slide0
11 Wall Street Journal, 7 February 2012: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/
02/07/one-banker-stood-on-both-sides-of-glencore-xstrata/
12 Euromoney, September 2013 http://www.euromoney.com/Article/
3256868/Abigail-with-attitude-Phone-chargerVerizon-flexes-its.html
13 Mailonline, 15 September 2012: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/
article-2203546/Tony-Blair--1m-hour-mediator-lives-
opulent-country-estate.html
14 The Guardian, 11 May 2012: http://www.theguardian.com/business/
2012/may/11/court-tony-blair-hotels-bid
CHAPTER TEN
THE TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTION
‘I’ve had a great friendship with Tony Blair for many years and we both share the ideology of the Third Way.’
– PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS OF COLOMBIA IN LONDON, JULY 2010.
Tony Blair Associates does much less business on the American continent than in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. But it does have, to our knowledge, two South American public-sector clients and one US commercial client.
At the World Economic Forum Summit in Rio de Janeiro in April 2011, Tony Blair met Erik Camarano, the chief executive of a free-market consultancy, Movimento Brasil Competitivo (MBC), and within months was proposing that they go into business together to seek work in Mr Camarano’s home state of São Paulo in Brazil. The previous day, en route to Rio, he met his old Colombian chum Juan Manuel Santos, now the president of his country, who was already a client.
It took a year, but Camarano and Blair’s partnership eventually landed a contract worth, on Camarano’s figures, almost £4 million a year to advise the state government of São Paulo, the economic powerhouse behind Brazil’s rapidly growing economy. About £2 million had been earmarked for travel and accommodation costs and Blair’s fees, according to Camarano. The sum is disputed by Blair’s office, but, as usual, it does not offer an alternative figure.
‘We first had contact with Mr Blair at the World Economic Forum last year,’ Camarano told the Daily Telegraph. ‘We were then approached by him and he now has an office in São Paulo. He wanted to bring his expertise to Brazil.
‘He saw that Brazil was coming to a state of maturity where we could make use of his experience.
‘The situation in São Paulo is very specific. It’s different from other states in Brazil where sometimes a lack of money is the crucial question. In São Paulo you do have resources, you have a huge public budget and you have a huge amount of resources to invest from the public sector.’
Blair’s South American office is run by Joe Capp, a former senior employee with the consultancy McKinsey, and the project in São Paulo state, an area larger than the UK and with a population of more than 40 million, is costing 12 million Brazilian reals (£3.7 million), according to Camarano, whose company receives only 10 per cent of the fee.
Camarano said that around 40 per cent would go in taxes, because his office
would be hiring foreign services. ‘I would say that, of the remaining part, which is maybe 6–7 million reals (£1.8–£2.1 million), one part is logistics – which is international travelling, the consulting involved, lodging, accommodations – and then there is a part that is the fee for his office for the consulting work.’
Camarano said that the consulting group would have a large number of experts in fields such as transport, security, education and health.
A São Paulo state spokesman told the newspaper, ‘The company of the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is advising the government of São Paulo in its long-term planning.
‘This is being done in partnership with the Movimento Brasil Competitivo, a private organisation that is bearing all the costs of the consultation.’1
Erik Camarano’s Brazilian Competitiveness Movement (the Movimento Brasil Competitivo mentioned above) is a Brazilian NGO certified as ‘Organization of the Civil Society for the Public Interest’, which works to improve competitiveness in the public and private sectors in Brazil.
The other South American client Blair met in the period around the Rio de Janeiro conference in April 2011 was his ‘close friend’, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. A day before the Rio meeting began, Blair was in Colombia meeting Santos. These two men go back a very long way. In 1999, when Blair had been Prime Minister for only two years and Santos was the hardline right-wing Minister of Foreign Trade in Colombia, they collaborated on a book. It was called, naturally, The Third Way – An Alternative for Colombia.
In July 2010 when, as the recently elected president of Colombia, Santos was in London to meet the recently elected British Prime Minister David Cameron, he looked in at Tony Blair’s office first. After the twenty-minute meeting Santos told newspapers, ‘I’ve had a great friendship with Tony Blair for many years and we both share the ideology of the Third Way. In my campaign I have said that my government would be close to the Third Way, which is useful not only to Colombia but to the whole world, especially after the financial crisis of 2008.’ The Colombian contract came Blair’s way just eight months later.
Blair Inc--The Man Behind the Mask Page 22