Is Tony Blair the hidden hand that wanks the skipper?

 

Labour's hidden hand' - Tony Blair

In the British navy, the sailors were often heard to say that the hand that wanks the skipper, is the hand that runs the ship.

It has been reported in the press that Sir Keir Starmer-oid regularly receives texts from Sir Tony Blair giving him advice on what to do in government. Blair, recently had to remind Starmer that men have a penis and females a vagina. It seems that Blair wants Starmer-oid to introduce a digital ID scheme to cut migration. In 2020, Blair said it was "common sense to move in the direction of digital IDs" as part of an effort to fight Covid-19. Sir Jake Berry, a former Conservative Party chairman, branded digital IDs as a "creepy state plan to track you from the cradle to the grave." The 'Tony Blair Institute for Global Change' (TBI), has a track record for trying to push government's into introducing digital identification and digital health records. They also want countries to spend heavily on artificial intelligence.

Critics have accused Blair of using his Institute to advance his own ideological views and its corporate backers. One of the biggest financial backers of the TBI, is Larry Ellison, the co-founder of the technology company called Oracle. Ellison gave the TBI $33.8m in 2021 through his philanthropic foundation and promised another $49.4m in 2022. That was also the year that Oracle bought the healthcare IT company Cerner for $28bn.

While the TBI say that their policy interests are not shaped by its donors' corporate interests, it's known that TBI does put public officials in contact with companies that it believes can deliver changes which it advocates. The TBI employs around 800 staff and its accounts show that it made over £65m in revenue in 2021, a 78% increase on the previous year. Although some have argued that the TBI is bankrolled by billionaires, the Institute says it's not run for profit and that Blair doesn't receive a salary. Blair did tell the Financial Times that he wanted his Institute to be "entrepreneurial, agile and give governments good solid advice..." Staff working for the TBI give advice to countries like Rwanda and Saudi Arabia, two countries that have a track record for violating human rights.

Since becoming the leader of the Labour Party and now Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer-oid has promoted a number of key figures from the Blairite wing of the party. Marianna McFadden, the wife of Pat McFadden, was recruited from the TBI to help plan Labour's election campaign. Last September a Labour source told the Guardian, "If you think the TBI is influential right now, just wait until we get into power and have to recruit half our staff from there."

Many expect that it won't be long before that other New Labour string puller, Mandy Mandelson, is offered a government job by Starmer-oid.