Published: October 24th 2011 - at 1:12 pm

Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan


by Dave Osler    

Nursultan Nazarbayev is clearly an extremely popular guy. Why, only last April, he secured 95% of the votes in Kazakhstan’s presidential elections. And just to underline how much his people love him, the name of the party which holds every single seat in the country’s parliament loosely translates as ‘Ray of Light of the Fatherland’, in honour of the big N himself.

Personally I am at a loss to fathom why Nazarbayev should feel the need to retain an expensive western public relations outfit. But inexplicably enough, he has done just that. The Financial Times reports that a firm by the name of Tony Blair Associates has landed a contract worth $13m a year to help tidy up Kazakhstan’s image in the West.

If you don’t have an FT subscription, read the rewrite in the Daily Telegraph here.

In case you are wondering who is in charge of Tony Blair Associates, the clue is in the name. Helping the former Labour leader on this project are Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell, two of his key sidekicks from his stint in Number Ten.

‘His advice is priceless,’ one unnamed Kazakh official commented. ‘Kazakhstan will get the best advice possible from him on issues connected with policy and the economy. . . We could not have a better adviser.’

There are some tiresome individuals who insist on pointing out that Kazakhstan is a one party petrostate where awkward journos and human rights campaigners routinely get banged up.

But let me stress right now that this stance is still streets ahead of Uzbekistan, just down the road, where dissidents are routinely subject to death by boiling.

Surely the team at TBA will use the wealth of experience acquired in the New Labour years to bring about a climate in which Kazakhs feel free to express political opinions that dissent from the leadership, and in which probing media coverage is positively encouraged. These guys are worth every penny, Mr Nazarbayev.


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About the author
Dave Osler is a regular contributor. He is a British journalist and author, ex-punk and ex-Trot. Also at: Dave's Part
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Story Filed Under: Blog ,Foreign affairs ,Labour party


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Reader comments


1. Andreas Moser

Maybe they want to run another campaign against “Borat”: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/borat-or-bilo/ ?

2. bah

I like

3. Bob B

Surely Borat will be hired by Tony Blair Associates for this challenging commission:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btd5Ex3edmk

4. Yakoub

Well, there’s isn’t much Tony Blair could do to lower his moral standing, is there?

5. Phil Hunt

What a very pleasant individual Mr Nazarbayev is. I’m sure Tony will feel quite at home.

6. Richard W

There appears to be a correlation between a country having stan in their name and not being a very nice place. Mr Tony could advise them to drop the stan.

7. Barrie J

Presumably, like his friend Mr Bush, Mr Blair has to be careful which countries he physically sets foot in.
Pretty safe with Israel and despotic regimes.

8. Matthew Steeples

I spotted Mrs Blair at Christie’s South Ken buying yet more furniture. Here’s my blog about their rise to millionairedom. Good luck to ‘em: http://dasteepsspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/10/chair-of-blair.html


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. MUSHKUSH

    Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BuxiUDBf < what a nice man.

  2. oilywaters

    Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/CKJxeBXX via @libcon

  3. Ben White

    "Kazakhstan is a 1 party petrostate where awkward journos & human rights campaigners get banged up" http://t.co/BwGlbKk6 @tonyblairoffice

  4. Andrew Ducker

    Tony Blair is now doing Public Relations work for repressive regimes http://t.co/fzxe3zB9

  5. Adam

    Tony Blair is now doing Public Relations work for repressive regimes http://t.co/fzxe3zB9

  6. corders

    Tony Blair: scum sucker knows no bounds; http://t.co/y28bCLPB

  7. Yakoub Islam

    Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan | Liberal Conspiracy: http://t.co/Vl1ykcb7 via @libcon

  8. tracy e

    Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan http://t.co/eLkIr340

  9. Sim-O

    Kazakhstan gets a new PR team http://t.co/bQ200kun

  10. Kevin Davidson

    RT @andrewducker: Tony Blair is now doing Public Relations work for repressive regimes http://t.co/SQ3tBCEJ //Had practice…

  11. LadyRoisin

    Tony B-liar: PR man for Kazakhstan | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/8lSD4CXo via @libcon

  12. Ernesto Charter

    Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/53CVOiw8

  13. Hilal Ahmed

    Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/RJ8vH21Y via @libcon

  14. Adam Tait

    http://t.co/d5o1NiVC Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan

  15. SM

    http://t.co/d5o1NiVC Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan





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