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Murdoch set to back Blair - for a place in his boardroom at Fox News
The media magnate Rupert Murdoch is expected to offer Tony Blair a senior role in his News Corporation empire when he stands down as Prime Minister.
Allies of Mr Blair insist he has made no decisions about his plans when he leaves Downing Street -- almost certainly next year. But some friends say a seat on the board of News Corp could tempt the outgoing Prime Minister, as it would dovetail neatly with the lucrative United States lecture circuit. Mr Blair's popularity at home may be waning, but he remains big box office in America. His close relationship with Mr Murdoch will be highlighted tomorrow when he addresses the annual gathering of News Corp's executives and senior journalists from around the world.
After meeting President George Bush at the White House yesterday, Mr Blair flew on to California where, amid the stunning scenery at Pebble Beach, 130 miles south of San Francisco, he will speak about "leadership in the modern world".
The five-day event is entitled Imagining The Future, reflecting Mr Murdoch's recently-discovered interest in new media. Other star guests are expected to include Bill and Hillary Clinton; Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator turned Governor of California; Bono, the U2 singer and campaigner for the developing world; Shimon Peres, the Israeli Vice Premier; and former US Vice-President Al Gore, who will show his film on climate change.
Mr Blair's appearance is seen as a mutual "thank you" as he enters the final phase of his premiership. Mr Murdoch admired Mr Blair's support for President Bush over the Iraq war, which his newspapers around the world endorsed.
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http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1202848.ece
After meeting President George Bush at the White House yesterday, Mr Blair flew on to California where, amid the stunning scenery at Pebble Beach, 130 miles south of San Francisco, he will speak about "leadership in the modern world".
The five-day event is entitled Imagining The Future, reflecting Mr Murdoch's recently-discovered interest in new media. Other star guests are expected to include Bill and Hillary Clinton; Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator turned Governor of California; Bono, the U2 singer and campaigner for the developing world; Shimon Peres, the Israeli Vice Premier; and former US Vice-President Al Gore, who will show his film on climate change.
Mr Blair's appearance is seen as a mutual "thank you" as he enters the final phase of his premiership. Mr Murdoch admired Mr Blair's support for President Bush over the Iraq war, which his newspapers around the world endorsed.
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1202848.ece
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TONY Blair could do worse this evening than consider auditioning for his next career. Tonight's audience at the upmarket Californian golf resort of Pebble Beach will be a world removed from the increasingly irascible parliamentary Labour party or Labour conference.
Instead, he will be speaking to international high-achievers and celebrity glamourpusses.
The surroundings are lavish. A single round of golf on the championship course - which regularly hosts the US Open - costs £241. Executive suites at hotels around the resort set visitors back about £500 a night.
Blair will be introduced by bodybuilder turned filmstar, turned politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger - the embodiment of the American Dream - and speak to 250 top executives from media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and internationally-renowned guests on the subject of leadership in the modern world.
Other speakers at the five-day retreat include U2 pop star and anti-poverty campaigner Bono; US senator and likely presidential candidate John McCain; the former US vice-president turned eco-warrior Al Gore; the Israeli vice-premier Shimon Peres, and former US president Bill Clinton. After the speech, Blair will dine tête-à-tête with Murdoch, according to a News Corp source.
"Mr Blair will give his speech and host a Q&A session, and he will have a private dinner with Mr Murdoch. There's not going to big a public gala dinner or anything like that, there will be a private meeting," he said.
It has been reported Blair will be asked to join the News Corp board, as a reward for the Prime Minister's backing for US policy and for his support for elements of Murdoch's political and commercial agenda.
There is a precedent for this. Murdoch rewarded former Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar with a seat on the board after the conservative politician was voted out of office, partly because of his uncompromisingly pro-US stance on the War on Terror.
Another future option for Blair, which will partially hinge on his performance tonight, is that of the lucrative American lecture circuit. For all the Prime Minister's drooping popularity in the UK, he remains hugely fêted in the United States.
His credentials are boosted by his unstinting support for the US and by his English accent which - even when he slips into Estuary English mateyness - has the same resonance to American ears as Laurence Olivier reciting Shakespeare. It also makes him sound more intelligent as a matter of course. Blair is also helped by the fact that he is a natural performer who displayed a talent for acting while at school and university.
The US lecture circuit is a growing market, where a lunch-and-dinner deal for a superstar speaker can top £50,000. Lecturing has such appeal for former politicians that even former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is working on his command of English.
His opposition to US policy in the Middle East will make him much less of a draw than Blair but, nevertheless, the opportunity of lecturing was enough to make him spend thousands of pounds on an exclusive English-language course in Wales this year.
Critics can be forgiven in the US. Schroeder's outspoken former foreign minister, Joschka Fischer - who irritated the US by upbraiding then secretary of state Colin Powell at the UN Security Council - last month announced he was going to lecture on international relations at Princeton University in New Jersey.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1104942006