Come fly with me.

Tony telling it like it is

Reports that Tony Blair 'has' a Bombardier Global Express  called "Blair Force One " to trot around the world are wide of the mark. He doesn't own it anymore than you or I own a black cab. He rents it, as anyone can if their pockets are deep enough. You can't blame him can you? For £7,000 an hour you get to travel uber-class. Pull up to the jet at a private terminal in your limo. No long hike from the car park. No queuing for check-in. No queuing for security. No waiting at the boarding gate. No waiting for 175 other passengers to board. No inedible food. No traipsing through endless corridors after landing. No queuing for immigration at the end of a long day. No lost luggage. No stress. Just luxury, security, privacy and convenience. You're not a politician anymore, you're a rockstar. With a livery and interior (double bed and shower - settle!) to grace a playboy's mansion, this is a £30m intercontinental love rocket. You're rubbing shoulders with all the gang - Bono, Tiger, Hef, Branson. No more cheese sarnies with Gordon, another slug of Cristal please.

But the poison in the well is this. The UK's obsession with 'youth' in politics has had a disastrous effect on our political elites. 30 years ago, a retiring prime minister would be at the end of their working life. You wrote the memoirs, sat in the Lords, bathed in applause at your party conference.
Trust Me I'm Tony changed all that. They're out on their ear in the early 50's now, at the height of the ambition and potential. Outgoing prime ministers and their henchmen can now use the office as a springboard to the Big Time. A big player, a Mr Fixit on the world stage, raking in the wonga that  would make an NHS boss go weak at the knees. Surely, though, that wouldn't affect their judgement and policy decisions in office? Would it? The template has been set.