From the BBC:
Euan Blair, the prime minister’s eldest son, is to work in Washington DC as an intern for Republican politicians.
The 21-year-old will spend three months working for the Committee on Rules in the House of Representatives – the lower chamber of the US Congress.
Republican Congressman David Dreier of California is the Chairman of the House rules committee so junior will have plenty of chances to get into the thick of partisan battles. The Congressman was also the co-chairman for Californians for Bush and chairman of Governor Grope’s transition team. Dreier, you may recall, received the “Roy Cohn Award, in recognition of 24 years of working against gay and lesbian rights while living as a gay man” by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Euan was arrested at the age of 16 in Leicester Square, London for being drunk and incapable after celebrating the end of school examinations. In terms of Leicester Square, that charge is usually reserved for those so drunk they are lying on the pavement vommitting and is as much for their protection rather than a criminal matter. The incident did put the dampner on one proposal from Blair’s government for “on the spot” fines for drunken behaviour. A laughable suggestion was that this would mean the police would march the offender to an ATM to get the money (providing they were sober enough to remember their PIN number).
Euan first sprung to public attention with the Blair’s choice of ssecondary school at age 11. Blair himself went to an exclusive fee-paying Scottish private “Public School”. As a Labour politician it would have been embarrassing for the Blairs, despite their joint incomes exceeding ten times the national average (he with an augmented MP’s salary and her earing far more as a senior lawyer), to send their children to fee-paying schools. Instead they got both the older two sons places at the exclusive “London Oratory School”.
This is an exclusive Catholic school which gets state funding. Despite getting virtually all its funding from taxes (the only exception for this category of school was a 10% contribution from the church for building works) the school was able to operate a highly selective admissions policy to maintain the “exclusive” “high attainment” of its pupils. They stuck to the “comprehensive” (all ability) admission rules because children were “banded” – assessed as being in one of three ability bands. Schools were obliged to admit a certain percentage from each band but in London Oratory’s case they were able to select the most able from each band and those parents who would be most supportive of the school. Unfortunately for the Blair’s this policy was well known so their plan to claim good Socialist credentials by not sending their kids to a private school were dashed.
A further point about their choice was the amount of travelling this put on the kids. I happen to have lived near the school, worked in education administration and applied for a post at London Oratory which I decided against when I was told by the principal about their selection policies. The school in in west London (on the east side of Wormwood Scrubs for those with a map) whereas the Blairs lived in Islington in north east London which at the time was quite badly served by public transport. The minimum travel time by public transport would have been an hour because of their relative locations. Incidentally the current Labour MP for Islington is honest about the position and does send her kid to a fee paying school to avoid the local schools which do not have very good reputations.
Euan was used by his father as a “sounding board” to stay in touch with the ideas of “kids in the hood” (Yes he is almost as pathetic as that) The exhibits and contents of the Millenium Dome were designed on the basis of “what would appeal to Euan”. Supposed to be open for at least a year, the Dome consistently failed to attract visitors despite drastic cuts in the admission charges and closed before the year’s end after loosing hundreds of millions.
Euan’s University experience was a little spoilt when it was revealed that his parents had bought an apartment in a presige new block in Bristol so he had somewhere to stay while studying. While this could be seen as a generous and considerate guesture by rich parents, the Blairs spoilt it by purchasing two apartments in the block. (The two were later sold to help pay the deposit on their $9 million “family house” in an exclusive London square the Blairs purchased for the time they have to leave the free Prime Minister’s accommodation in London and the countryside at Chequers)
So Euan is a rich spoilt brat with an alcohol history, involvemnt in huge business losses whose father adopts a fake accent and who has got him a much sought after post using personal influence.
Sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it?
