£2 million for Blair, but what's in it for Morgan?

When the news broke, I tried to imagine the mood within the bank. Presumably, at the summit, judging from the fatuous comments of the chairman, Jamie Dimon - apparently it is important to both men "to try to make the world a better place and have a bit of fun doing it" - it was high fives all round. A famous Wall Street bank has another trophy in its boardroom cabinet, another well-known face staring out from the wall of the top corridor.

Down below, I will bet Blair's reported £2 million annual stipend (in the first reports it was £500,000 and in the later ones £2 million and, yes, I'm that confident) the feeling was one of despair.

While Jamie and Judy Dimon can parade their new acquisition at their Park Avenue apartment, others want to run a mile. In Dimon, they've come to know the most driven, egotistical manager of his generation - someone who won't rest until, as Fortune magazine once said, he's lauded as the "world's most important banker".

It should be no surprise that Dimon is co-chair of the forthcoming Davos World Economic Forum or that Blair is another co-chair. But while it's obvious what is in the arrangement for Blair - he is not even required to go into the office, seemingly - what, exactly, does JPMorgan get?

According to a spokesman: "We thought that in these turbulent times, he would be especially valuable for the company."

What does that mean? In theory, he can open doors, glad-hand and smile his way across the globe. But he's also a discredited figure in many eyes, someone associated forever with a botched war in Iraq and a too-cosy relationship with arguably the worst US President in memory. Blair, in short, comes with baggage that no amount of personal, self-effacing charm can hide.

He has no experience of banking or top-level business. If anything, his own period in office was characterised with a breathtaking naivety when dealing with the sharks of commerce - witness his embarrassing caving-in to Bernie Ecclestone over Formula 1 tobacco advertising. In the face of those bearing dollars and pounds, history shows he goes weak-kneed and unquestioning.

Sensible companies have realised it doesn't pay to be so closely identified with former political leaders. A few, such as Carlyle Group, have been forced to appreciate the error of their ways, scaling down their advisory boards of the supposed great and good as they saw more opportunities close than present themselves.

Against this, the JPMorgan approach looks distinctly old-fashioned. Blair, apparently, will not seek contracts for the bank but will provide advice and opinion.

But what will that be? He's no longer in office, not present in the hurly-burly. His key ex-aides and allies have virtually all moved on. It's remarkable just how quickly in his own domestic stamping ground, politics has moved on without him. Dimon's acquired a pin-up but elsewhere, Blair has been airbrushed with almost unseemly haste.

Dimon has bought Blair. He believes Blair is the must-have personal accessory-for any Wall Street chairman. In that respect, sadly, he's little different from the women who adorn the sidewalks of the Upper East Side - whether the latest handbag is any good or not doesn't really matter, for them, just owning one is enough.