THE taxpayers’ farewell to the Blairs was longer – and larger – than we thought. Figures released in the avalanche of Government statements as Parliament upped sticks for the summer recess reveal that Tony’s globe-trotting “Blairwell” trips before he left office cost £724,686. The tour took in Washington to say goodbye to his old mate George Bush, Iraq, Libya, where he dined in Colonel Gaddaffi’s tent in the desert, Sierra Leone, where he was made “a paramount chief”, Germany, Belfast, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Kuwait. It ended just four days before he departed Downing Street with a trip to Rome for an audience with the Pope. But the bill to the taxpayer did not stop there. Apart from Tony’s own security – and let’s face it, he surely needs it – Cherie decided to keep on her own official car and driver for a further seven months, that is, until Whitehall bean counters called a halt. Not to be undone, Cherie then decided to snaffle the car and the driver Dave by agreeing to pay for them herself. According to her recent book, one of Dave’s other duties was to hold a bucket for Mrs Blair while she vomited into it.
