Originally Posted by Pigshyt_Freeman

He's been looking very old and ill lately. Maybe he has something terminal and is trying to plea bargain his manifold sins down to a fine.

Oh! please let it be: painful; public and terminal! With any luck the repugnant spouse has also caught a dose of it!

Tony Blair will “significantly” reduce his tax bill by giving his profits from his book to help the Royal British Legion.

By Myra Butterworth, Personal Finance Correspondent
Published: 7:05PM BST 16 Aug 2010
1 Comment

By handing over the reported £4.6 million advance to charity, his personal tax bill will be cut from £2.3 million, according to leading accountants Grant Thornton.
However, he will still be out of pocket because the money he has earned has gone to charity, they said.

Mike Warburton, of accountants Grant Thornton, said: “There is no limit on the amount that someone can make under gift aid, so by supporting this worthy cause, Tony Blair is effectively paying £2.3 million with the taxman chipping in the same again.
“He will significantly reduce his personal tax bill. But this is still a lot of money for a private individual to give up.”

If Mr Blair decided to keep the £4.6 million advance, he would pay tax at 50 per cent – the rate for those earning an annual salary above £150,000. It would equate to a tax bill of £2.3 million.
However, by giving the money to charity, he can benefit from Gift Aid – a Government scheme to give tax relief to those supporting registered charities.

Under Gift Aid, Mr Blair will only need to pay 80 per cent of the £4.6 million advance to the charity - cash of £3.68 million. The taxman will then make up the difference of £920,000.

Blair will then be able to reduce his personal tax bill by £1.38 million, the higher rate relief on the Gift Aid payment.
He could also ask for this £1.38 million to go to charity and save a further £520,000, using the same Gift Aid principle.
Mr Warburton said: “Successive Governments have encouraged charitable giving, but it is unusual that such a large donation is made by a former prime minister.”


Blair will 'significantly" reduce tax bill by giving book money to charity - Telegraph

Originally Posted by FiveAlpha

The bloke can't win. If he hadn't donated any money, you lot would still vilify him. As an aside, I have noticed that most of the users of 'liebore', 'nu arbeit' etc, etc, etc, etc, who decry Labour's illegal wars and conflicts either weren't serving during Blair's tenure or haven't served at all................

My bold. I have and I did. The man is a vacuous, self-serving sound bite - remember the 'I feel the hand of history on our shoulder' shite from 1998 when he had brought peace to Norn Iron? The only person Blair will ever -EVER - care for is Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. It would not surprise me to hear that, when the cheque arrives at RBL, it's in an enevelope marked 'Soz, guys. luv TB x'.

Originally Posted by deltaecho

What does Blair need to "improve his image" for? He's not a politician anymore, he doesn't need to keep a weather eye on the popularity polls

Blair is widely known to be obsessed with his 'legacy' so that isn't really an argument I'm afraid. Like most people, he wants to be thought well of, and remembered as a great reforming bringer of prosperity and of happiness to little children, rather than a liar, crook and warmonger. This money of course will do a lot of good, but it would be foolish to pretend that he has nothing to gain, either in terms of reputation or in financial terms from his lecture circuit fees, from being trumpeted as a great philanthropist.

Pretty much like Harold Shipman including "Help The Aged" in his will......

Originally Posted by Pigshyt_Freeman

Blair is widely known to be obsessed with his 'legacy' so that isn't really an argument I'm afraid. Like most people, he wants to be thought well of, and remembered as a great reforming bringer of prosperity and of happiness to little children, rather than a liar, crook and warmonger. This money of course will do a lot of good, but it would be foolish to pretend that he has nothing to gain, either in terms of reputation or in financial terms from his lecture circuit fees, from being trumpeted as a great philanthropist.

what he said.

Originally Posted by FiveAlpha

The bloke can't win. If he hadn't donated any money, you lot would still vilify him. As an aside, I have noticed that most of the users of 'liebore', 'nu arbeit' etc, etc, etc, etc, who decry Labour's illegal wars and conflicts either weren't serving during Blair's tenure or haven't served at all. You big queers.

He can't win because, if you think a man a c**t, no matter what he does will not change that attitude.
I didn't serve during Labour's tenure, does that mean I can have no opinion on the wars?

Originally Posted by geezer466

Just noticed that on his appearance on the BBC 6 News. Seems to have lost a bit of weight!! Interestingly they only did a head shot. (no pun intended)

Co-incedentally, thats about as much as he would get from most people here on Arrse.

Will the 'royalties' include fees from newspaper serialisations?If the book is a turkey, then the value of sales probably won't touch the advance. If he's clever though, he can syndicate extracts to the newspapers here and in the US.

Originally Posted by Ancient_Mariner

I have it on good authority that after converting to Catholicism, Tony has just completed his first Confession. It took two years and involved teams of priests working in shifts. His penance was 10 Hail Mary's and donate a week's wages to a worthy cause.

Tony is now without sin.

Could the contribution being made at this time have anything to do with the coming visit of the Pope? Maybe a Sainthood in the offing..."Saint Tony" sounds so much better than "Teflon Tony".