Not so long ago, the best a retiring politician could hope for was a book deal and a few company board seats, enough at least for a house in France and some left over for the children. But all that has changed. Elite politicians can now expect to turn their reputations and address books into very large fortunes.
In June, shortly before Tony Blair is expected to vacate Downing Street, he and his wife will host a tea party for a group of American and Mexican billionaires visiting London to support the Tate Gallery.
It is hard,
however, not to regard the event as a job interview. While the billionaires nibble on his sandwiches, Blair will be able to plot a future where he can at last pay for his luxury holidays himself.
When John Major left Downing Street, by far the best parting gift he received came from the first |
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President Bush: a highly lucrative job with the American private equity firm, the Carlyle Group.
Al Gore's wanderings since losing the presidency in 2000 have been made considerably more comfortable by board seats at Google and Apple. Bill Clinton's writing and speaking deals will likely be dwarfed by his private equity earnings.
The Tate delegation is being led by Lynn Forrester de Rothschild, the wife of Evelyn de Rothschild, and includes the designer Calvin Klein, Richard Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers, and the Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim Helu.
But the most intriguing member of the party is Ron Burkle (left, with Sean 'P Diddy' Combs), a Californian investor who made his fortune buying supermarkets with junk bonds in the 1980s, turning them around and selling them at a vast profit in the mid-1990s. Burkle also  |
