Blair hires Clintons legal eagle for book deal

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has hired Robert Barnett to contact publishers on his behalf for a possible book deal.

London, Aug.17 : Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has hired Robert Barnett to contact publishers on his behalf for a possible book deal.

According to the Daily Mail, Barnett was responsible for securing a reported 12 million dollars for ex-US President Bill Clinton's autobiography My Life, and industry insiders estimate Blair's book could fetch a similar figure.

Random House was widely thought to have struck an informal agreement with Blair for his memoirs last year. The publisher also handled Clinton's book and the recent diaries by Blair's high-profile spin doctor Alastair Campbell.

The Blair camp, however, insists that no deal has been made as yet.

The fact that a US lawyer has been drafted, will heighten speculation that Blair may choose to go with Harper Collins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and has more of a trans-Atlantic presence.

Blair's perceived popularity in America is likely to inflate the sum he will receive for an account of his life and time in Downing Street. He will have to juggle writing the book with his current role as the envoy of the Quartet powers in the Middle East.

Previous Prime Ministers have enjoyed mixed success with their memoirs.

Baroness Thatcher is believed to have pocketed several million pounds for The Downing Street Years and The Path to Power.

The first volume, which described the Cabinet rebellion that saw her leave Number 10, sold some 500,000 copies in hardback, but the second failed to follow suit.

Sir John Major received up to a million pounds for his autobiography, which sold around 200,000 in hardback.

However, the efforts of Sir Edward Heath - Baroness Thatcher's predecessor at the helm of the Tories - are considered to have been a flop, largely because they were not published until three decades after he left office.

ANI