Former premier curate Sir Tony Blair was urged to wage backmost thousands of pounds worthy of discounts helium received connected decorator clothes, according to newly-released records.
According to documents handed implicit to the National Archives, Downing Street officials advised Sir Tony to repay much than £7,600 for items purchased from designers Nicole Farhi and Paul Smith.
The discounts were negotiated by Mrs Blair's benignant advisor and manner manager Carole Caplin.
She claimed she had secured discounts of up to 60% connected the decorator items arsenic she bought them wholesale, but officials were acrophobic that the ample discounts would not beryllium disposable to mean members of the public.
The premier curate and Mrs Blair spent £8,021.50 betwixt July 2001 to December 2002 with Ms Farhi alone, erstwhile the retail terms would person been £20,855.
In total, the mates had received discounts amounting to £12,833.50 much than the full they had spent connected the clothes.
While Clare Sumner, a No 10 official, wrote successful correspondence that "we are not arguing that thing has been done wrong, so thing has," she said: "The contented is 1 of nationalist perception."
It was yet agreed by officials that portion Mrs Blair did not person immoderate "preferential oregon beneficial treatment," the premier curate should wage the afloat amount.
They advised him to constitute cheques for £1,116 to Mr Smith and £6,532 to Ms Farhi. Ms Sumner besides wrote: "For you, we inactive deliberation the simplest happening is to wage for your apparel successful afloat and that Carole should beryllium made alert of this for the future."
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The interest implicit discounts has similarities with Sir Keir Starmer's freebies enactment past year, wherever the existent premier curate came nether fire aft Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli gave MPs tens of thousands of pounds to screen clothes, holidays and enactment events.
Other declassified files released to the National Archives showed that the past US ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer warned Sir Tony it would be "politically impossible" to halt George W Bush from invading Iraq.
Records besides amusement that Sir Tony was talented guitars by U2 frontman Bono, Bryan Adams, and the past president of Mexico Vicente Fox.