Foreign Office bans former ministers from staying for free at British embassies

Tony Blair is reported to have stayed twice at the UK ambassador's resdience in Washington DC, three years after standing down

The British Embassy in Washington DC (Getty/Alex Wong)

Former ministers have been banned from staying at British embassies free of charge and from asking diplomats stationed in them to help with their private commercial work.

According to the Foreign Office, the new crackdown will mean UK embassies will no longer provide “assistance” for visits of former prime ministers and ministers, unless the trip is on official government business.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “Former prime ministers and former ministers who want support as representatives of UK business must now make their requests through the same process that all companies follow.”

It comes after a Freedom of Information request submitted by Andrew Brigden, a Tory MP, found Tony Blair had stayed twice at the residence of the UK ambassador to the United States – three years after he stood down as British prime minister.

According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Blair has stayed rent-free on several occasions in the British ambassador’s residence in Paris at the taxpayers’ expense since stepping down as prime minister. The newspaper also claims that on each occasion Mr Blair was accompanied by up to six people, excluding his security detail.

It has previously been alleged that the former prime minister stayed at the British embassy in Tripoli while meeting with Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, on private business.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: “As with other former prime ministers, Mr Blair has been invited to stay at embassies, though for the majority of visits he would stay in a hotel.

“He was usually accompanied by one or two members of staff although when on visits related to his role as Quartet Representative, and where appropriate, FCO secondees to the OQR would be invited…Tony Blair has been treated no differently from any other former PM and the notion that he has used these invitations for business reasons is absurd…He stays only at the express invitation of the ambassador.

“In the case of both Paris and Washington DC he will have had political meetings as it is useful both for him and the embassy to compare notes.”