London : Tony Blair and other former prime ministers have been banned from staying for free at taxpayers expense at British embassies and using diplomats to help carry out their private commercial work, a media report has said, reports PTI.
The Foreign Office said that it wanted to prevent the “inappropriate use” of government staff and resources and avoid the perception abroad that such figures were representing the UK Government, the Telegraph reported.
It has directed UK ambassadors not to help ex-ministers with their private business work. Instead, ex-ministers will only be able to make use of embassies and staff if they are working on official business, the report said.
The move comes in the backdrop of a report by the paper that Blair – who has made millions of pounds since standing down as prime minister in 2007 – stayed rent-free in British embassies in France and the US at the taxpayers expense.
The paper had previously reported how Blair was given the run of the British ambassador’s official residence in Manila on a trip during which he was paid almost 400,000 pounds for two speeches. He also stayed at the UK embassy in Tripoli when meeting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi on private business.
“Under the new guidance there will be a general ban on embassies arranging meetings for former ministers or putting them up in official residences,” the paper said.
