Tony plays tennis to clear Labour debts

Tony Blair has offered a game of tennis (with himself) to a crisis charity auction arranged by the Labour Party to help clear its £24m debt. However, given that most of this was run up by the former PM while he was in office, Gordon Brown is unlikely to be too grateful, especially as he and the seven other members of the party's National Executive Commission are personally liable for the money.

Bids on the Blair tennis match can be placed on the Labour party's website, but the accompanying blurb doesn't quite let on how serious matters are. If Brown and co. fail to repay loans of £7.2m by July 1, they face having their personal possessions seized. The party could even be made bankrupt.

However, none of this seems to bother Lord Levy, Blair's best-known tennis partner and the man responsible for racking up much of the debt. To the winner of the Blair tennis match, he offers this advice: "They'll have to have a big ego and spend quite a lot of money so they can boast to their friends. Tony's a pretty good player, very competitive and plays a good game. If they are no good, they can only hope they get him on a bad day when he is all over the place."