{"id":722,"date":"2014-05-31T04:55:15","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T04:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freemasonrywatch.org\/blog\/?p=722"},"modified":"2014-05-31T04:55:15","modified_gmt":"2014-05-31T04:55:15","slug":"daily-mail-why-has-bro-david-cameron-held-eight-private-conversations-with-bro-tony-blair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freemasonrywatch.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/31\/daily-mail-why-has-bro-david-cameron-held-eight-private-conversations-with-bro-tony-blair\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Mail: Why has Bro. David Cameron held eight private conversations with Bro. Tony Blair?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daily Mail<\/a><\/p>\n

The new special relationship: Why HAS Cameron held EIGHT conversations with Tony Blair (of all people) on how to run the country?<\/p>\n

29 May, 2012<\/p>\n

By Tim Shipman, Deputy Political Editor<\/p>\n

\"Cameron,<\/p>\n

David Cameron has developed a \u2018special relationship\u2019 with Tony Blair, holding at least eight conversations with him on how to run the country.<\/p>\n

Mr Blair visited Mr Cameron\u2019s official country residence of Chequers last July \u2013 a meeting that has previously never been disclosed by Downing Street.<\/p>\n

The pair have also had at least seven phone conversations since Mr Cameron took the keys to No10, a rate of around once every three months.<\/p>\n

Mr Cameron and Mr Blair had a phone chat as recently as February this year.<\/p>\n

They also spoke in January and have another call scheduled for September according to Downing Street sources.<\/p>\n

Officials have previously admitted Mr Blair has briefed Mr Cameron in his capacity as a Middle East envoy.<\/p>\n

But the full extent of their conversations has never before been revealed.<\/p>\n

Well-placed sources admit their discussions stray far beyond foreign affairs and into how the Government should reform public services and the civil service. They have also discussed the euro crisis and the economy.<\/p>\n

Mr Blair has also been advising Mr Cameron on how to cope with the rigours of the job as he undergoes the most testing time of his premiership.<\/p>\n

\u2018They have a lot to talk about,\u2019 said a senior source.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is quite a special relationship between one Prime Minister and another. Who else knows what you\u2019re going through?<\/p>\n

\u2018They ostensibly talk about the Middle East but when you\u2019ve got him on the phone it is natural to talk politics.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Blair has also had discussions on public service reform with senior ministers and it is understood he has held talks with Mr Cameron\u2019s recently departed policy guru Steve Hilton.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: ‘Of course, from time to time he speaks to the PM, particularly in his role as Quartet Representative, as he does with many world leaders.<\/p>\n

‘But he does not routinely advise the PM on domestic or other policy.’<\/p>\n

Labour peer Lord Adonis, who helped pioneer Mr Blair\u2019s academy schools programme, which Education Secretary Michael Gove has dramatically expanded, was in No10 for talks with Mr Cameron on Monday.<\/p>\n

That meeting was also previously kept quiet by No10.<\/p>\n

Senior Tory sources say the Prime Minister has not ruled out offering a job to Lord Adonis, who is supposed to be running Labour\u2019s own industrial policy review.<\/p>\n

Mr Cameron\u2019s policy unit has also been consulting Matthew Taylor and Geoff Mulgan, two former heads of Mr Blair\u2019s Downing Street policy unit.<\/p>\n

Details of the extensive web of contacts are likely to enrage partisans on both Tory and Labour benches.<\/p>\n

Tory backbenchers are already concerned Mr Cameron spends as much time listening to the Liberal Democrats as he does Conservative backbenchers.<\/p>\n

Mr Cameron gained notoriety with his own party by dubbing himself the \u2018heir to Blair\u2019 during the 2005 leadership contest.<\/p>\n

The disclosure he is advising Mr Cameron will send many into orbit.<\/p>\n

Mr Blair has let it be known he wants to play a larger role in domestic politics.<\/p>\n

Article Continues<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mitt<\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>