Blair is in the editor’s chair at the Standard today.

Guido is looking forward to extensive coverage of the London hospital that has gone bust because of his own PFI scheme…

According to Alastair Campbell’s diary entry for Thursday, 26 September 2002, after being told of the latest act of  sabotage by Gordon Brown, Tony Blair told him “He’s brilliant and ambitious but he’s also bonkers and I just can’t be bothered with it.” After another row on Friday 4 April 2003 Blair tells Campbell “One thing is for sure. At the moment he is crackerjack. My big worry is that he will bring the whole show down.” Guido disputes the “brilliant”.

Tony Blair lost his rag after being heckled by a protester during a speech to students at the University of Hong Kong. As the man approached Blair, accusing him of breaching the Geneva convention, the former PM warned menacingly: “I wouldn’t come any further…” Asia Pacific News claims that  Blair said “that’s democracy for you” as the man was led away.

He’s clearly been spending too much time hanging around with dictators…

The former Prime Minister avoided the rain and fake grins by popping along to see President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik in the Indian Ocean.

The luxury Maldives resort is a thousand bucks per night for the cheapest suite.

Nothing is too good for our Tone.

UPDATE:

@GuidoFawkes says Tony Blair spent weekend in Maldives with President Wahid. Wahid coup deposed democratically ecected Pres Naseem in Jan.—
adamboulton (@adamboultonSKY) June 06, 2012

Next’s week witness list for Leveson is a fiery one. Blair is is all day Monday and Hunt all day Thursday. Cable, Gove, May and Ken Clarke will also face a grilling. If this is the calibre of witnesses this week, expect the PM and Brown to be called in the first week of June. The Inquiry is not sitting in Jubilee week which gives the PM plenty of time with his lawyers and coaches…

What the Civil Service blocked Tony Blair from saying…

“God bless Britain.”

The Tories are very keen to push the comparison between the number of meetings held between Rupert Murdoch and various Prime Ministers, specifically within in the first two years of their premierships:

Tony Blair became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997. By 1 May 1999, he had met Rupert Murdoch 7 times:

1 June 1997 – Meeting
2 September 1997 – Meeting
13 November 1997 – Lunch
29 January 1998 – Meeting (with Mark Booth)
12 May 1998 – Meeting
21 January 1999 – Lunch
21 January 1999 – Dinner (with Gordon Brown, Irwin Stelzer and Les Hinton)

Gordon Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007. By 26 June 2009, he had met Rupert Murdoch 13 times:

6 October 2007 – Meeting
6 October 2007 – Dinner (with Sarah Brown and JK Rowling)
29 October 2007 – Lunch
22 January 2008 – Lunch
16 April 2008 – Meeting
6 June 2008 – Dinner (with Wendi Murdoch and Sarah Brown)
15 June 2008 – Dinner hosted by Gordon and Sarah Brown for around 36 people including Wendi Murdoch, President Bush and Laura Bush)
16 June 2008 – News Corporation Summer party and dinner afterwards (with other members of Murdoch’s family and Sarah Brown)
25 September 2008 – Dinner hosted by Mayor Bloomberg
26 September 2008 – Meeting
13 November 2008 – Meeting
13 January 2009 – Breakfast
13 June 2009 – The wedding of Rebekah Wade to Charlie Brooks (also attended by David Cameron)
22 June 2009 – Reception for Lord Paul
26 June 2009 – Dinner (with Sarah Brown and Lord Paul)

David Cameron became Prime Minister on 11 May 2010. As of 26 April 2012, he had met Rupert Murdoch twice and attended two social occasions with him:

18 May 2010 – Meeting
21 July 2010 – Dinner or meeting
16 June 2011 – News Corporation Summer Party
20 June 2011 – Times CEO summit dinner

Interesting, and we all know they were all up to their necks, but had the scandal not blown up in July 2011, do we really think Dave’s number of meetings would have stuck at four?

Ben Bradshaw tells Total Politics how much Ed Miliband inspires Labour students…

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a Labour students’ disco at party conference? Whose name do they still chant? ‘Tony’.”

After a diary error left Dave, Nick, George and Danny dining together tonight, a quick reorganisation was undertaken by civil servants to allow ”the quad” to spend the Valentine’s Day evening with their wives. Guido has been wondering whether such action would have taken place at “the Quartet”. Anyone know if the Blairs will be spending Valentine’s Day together?

Tony Blair’s estimated wealth is somewhere in the region of £45m. In order to help him put his head on the pillow, and confuse the taxman, he’s set up various foundations such as the Africa Government Initiative. He’s so keen to help Africa that he’s recruiting interns to run the operation:

“We are looking for outstanding individuals to undertake a 3 month internship to support our London team, which sets strategic direction for the projects overall, focuses on fundraising for the development and expansion of AGI, and provides logistical support to the teams. The ideal candidate would have excellent academic credentials with a proven administrative and numerical ability. Prior experience in an office environment will be an advantage.”

Sounds like an incredible opportunity, but what’s the catch?

“The internship is not paid, however you will be reimbursed for your lunch and travel expenses.”

The continuing mystery of his £8 million of “administrative expenses” obviously does not include intern pay. Guido isn’t too sure where this fits in on Tony’s “poverty-reduction agenda”…

Via @SaneLynch