Fury over Cherie's charity fee

Cherie Blair

SYDNEY - Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is embroiled in a row over a charity fund-raising tour of Australia which could reportedly earn her 100,000 ($265,000).

Blair's five-day trip around Australia, which starts next week, is to raise money for the Children's Cancer Institute, which finances cancer research.

She will appear at a series of gala dinners across the country, starting in Perth and moving on to Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

Guests will pay up to $320 each to hear her speak on legal issues and juggling a family and career.

She will be in New Zealand on February 7 and 8.

Britain's Sunday Times claimed that a draft budget drawn up by Markson Sparks, the Australian publicity agency behind the visit, revealed Blair will pocket $272,050 for the whirlwind tour.

Markson Sparks would receive $299,250, and the Children's Cancer Institute could expect to receive around $265,000, a third of the total amount likely to be raised.

Blair uses her maiden name, Booth, when she is working as a barrister in Britain, but she is described as Cherie Blair in publicity material for the tour, prompting accusations that she is cashing in on her husband's position.

Her visit, billed as a major coup by Markson Sparks, has turned into a public relations disaster, with Australian charities reacting angrily to the reports of her generous payment.

"Nobody expects her to slum it but this amount of money is outrageous," said Elizabeth Cham, national director of Philanthropy Australia, a charity umbrella group.

"I'd have thought a modest per diem payment would have been appropriate, not this telephone number-type figure.

"We seem to be heading down the road of United States-style celebrity appearance fees, which I find terribly concerning."

A spokesman for the Cancer Council of Australia said: "Celebrities normally do this sort of thing out of goodwill. We don't pay them for it."

The furore has fuelled further speculation over the Blairs' financial predicament. Last year they bought a $9.5 million Georgian townhouse in London but have since failed to rent it out. They are believed to be spending more than $34,450 a month in mortgage repayments.

Max Markson, of Markson Sparks, said the figures were "totally false" and "wrong, wrong, wrong". He suggested the draft budget was a forgery and said his company would receive a fee of $106,000. But that excluded staff salaries and costs, likely to be considerable.

He said he was contractually bound not to reveal Blair's fee.

Angela Trieste, marketing manager of the Children's Cancer Institute, said brisk ticket sales meant the tour could raise up to $530,050 for the charity.

"Nobody is doing anything wrong. Everything is above board."

She, too, would not reveal Blair's fee. In London, the Prime Minister's office side-stepped questions about the visit but stopped short of denying Blair would receive a six-figure sum.