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NEW: Boris Johnson's disgraced former deputy mayor is trying to sell the story of his downfall to the highest bidder
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The new Tony Towers: Blair buys £4million stately home after Cherie 'fell in love with it'
Last updated at 00:22am on 06.05.08
Tony Blair bought the £4million home because Cherie 'fell in love with it'
The seven-bedroom mansion in Buckinghamshire is a few miles from Chequers, the prime ministerial retreat the Blairs gave up to Gordon Brown when he took over at No 10.
Mrs Blair was said to have longed for another historic home in the same area.
A source said: "It ticked all of Cherie's boxes. She wanted a small stately home within a 20-mile radius of Chequers."
The Grade I listed South Pavilion, in Wotton Underwood, brings to six the number of properties the couple now own.
They have two houses in London, two flats in Bristol and Mr Blair's former constituency home in Durham.
The Blairs persuaded the owner of South Pavilion to sell to them before it went on the open market.
Effie Lecky, widow of Canadian discount airline boss John Lecky, who has lived there less than two years, said, "Who told you?", when asked if she had sold her house to the Blairs.
A source at the estate agent involved is understood to have confirmed the property was sold without being offered to the general public.
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Grade 1 listed: historic South Pavilion, complete with the magnificent weather vane tower, now the Blair's sixth home
South Pavilion is an imposing mansion built in 1704 with a magnificent domed weather vane tower, a 52ftlong double-height drawing room and stunning ornamental gardens.
Sir John kept his Oscar (awarded in 1981 for his role as Dudley Moore's butler in Arthur) on the bathroom windowsill when he lived there until his death in May 2000.
The only problem with it is lack of privacy. South Pavilion lies in the shadow of Wotton House stately home which opens its doors to the public in the summer months.
But Mrs Blair, who viewed South Pavilion for the first time last month, is said to have fallen in love with it straight away.
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The house has at least seven bedrooms and a 52ft-long double-height drawing room
Blair's new home sits in the grounds of Wotton House stately home, which opens its doors to the paying public in the summer months
Oscar owner: Sir John Gielgud at South Pavilion. He kept his Oscar in the dining room
Yesterday a spokesman for the Blairs refused to comment, saying: "It's a private matter."
Since he left office last June Mr Blair is estimated to have signed deals worth nearly £10million.
He won a £5million advance on his Downing Street memoirs, a £2.5mil-lion salary after being signed up by the U.S. investment bank J P Morgan, and £2million for an adviser's role with the finance firm Zurich.
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Since he left office last June, Mr Blair is estimated to have signed various deals worth £10million
Last month the former Prime Minister reportedly earned up to £240,000 for making a 90-minute speech to businessmen in Spain.
Theoretically Mr Blair could have written a cheque for £4million to buy the property outright, but it seems more likely the couple have taken out another mortgage.
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The house boasts an exquisite domed weather vane tower
If so it would double their mortgage debt to around £8million and push their payments to more than £30,000 a month, experts estimate.
• An unsolicited offer of £200million was made for a seven-storey townhouse in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, it was reported yesterday.
Jon Hunt, 54, who sold his Foxtons estate agent business for £370million at the height of the property boom, rejected the offer.
Reader views (9)
I enjoy the comments of chippy little leftie conspiracy theorists as much as the glorious interior of that Grade 1 house. Keep up the good work, Comrades.
- Simon, Belgravia, London
I can't wait for Ken to cash in on his years of service to London. Get in there Ken, get some millions in your pocket before you win back the Mayor's office when Boris resigns in shame. I give him 2 years!
- Fresh, London
What amazes me is the sheer hypocrisy of this man and family! Socialists they call themselves! Lining their pockets all and every way they can.
If this was anybody else, it would be good form. But when you stand for an evil ideology of socialism hiding behind Communism and Marxism pyramid control of the people, blinding them with false hoods for complete control with ID,genetic DNA, camera spying council taxes and more taxes and taxes by stealth. You would think he would at least walk the talk of his evil ideology! But just goes to show their in this for the money and the prestige. And we are just the plebs to be scammed and abused.
- Ben, Lancs
Where in the hell is he getting the money for this? This is utterly incredible, anyone with an ounce of sense will be able to calculate that there must be a "hidden" source of cash flow which simply does not square with his and his wife's earnings? What the hell are the Inland Revenue doing? Chasing the little guy for a few grand but not Blair? This smells of massive corruption on an unprecedented scale.
- James, New Malden, Surrey
There is not enough maternity wards available but Blair can afford a 4 million pound house on top of all the others he owns. How can the working classes vote for New Labour?
- Stan White, leeds
Blair should stick to his principles, a home for everyone, not 6 homes. How greedy is that?
- David, Isle of Wight
Well, it just shows that politics, like crime, DOES pay!
A £10m pension just for being Prime Minister over and above "reward" for his Tsar-like untransparent rushing of Britain's invasion of Iraq and, of course, the BAE scandal to mention just a couple of instances.
Is it any wonder that Third World "dictators" act the way THEY do, especially when they see HOW the leaders (i.e. Blair & Bush) of supposed First World "democratic" countries conduct themselves?
- Fraser, Telford Park
Haven't the Blairs done well for themselves? The distribution of wealth in this nation has favoured those hard working committed politicians who have taken us all for a ride. Consider this,Blair and company created wars[I know it's like Hollywood!]to gather their wealth,power and an impressive property portfolio whilst quite a number of returning troops whom are injured struggle to cope medically and financially.Then there's the families of the deceased soldiers who are evicted from their military homes and left to struggle,where's the justice?TONY BLAIR AND & CO ARE WAR CRIMINALS!
- Ron7055, belfast, northern ireland
Yeah Blair is a wonderful guy wanting peace in the middle east. Maybe he could explain some of the houses he has to those living in poverty in the m.e. My question is this? How can anyone trust what you say when you have ripped off your own people with false ideologies?
- Andrew, Australia Brighton
