Blair hires lawyer for book deal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6950509.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Tony Blair has recruited a top US lawyer to broker a publishing deal for his memoirs.

Sources close to the former prime minister say he has hired Robert Barnett, who secured $12m (£5.9m) for Bill Clinton's autobiography.

Industry insiders say Mr Blair's book could fetch a similar figure.

It is not clear if Mr Blair, who also has a job as an international envoy to the Middle East, has employed a professional writer to help him.

Transatlantic approach

Although sources close to Mr Blair, who stood down in June, say the process is at a very early stage, the news could give Gordon Brown cause for concern.

The pair had a famously turbulent relationship but Mr Blair has repeatedly insisted his top priority was securing a fourth term in government for Labour.

The hiring of a US lawyer will also fuel speculation Mr Blair may choose to go with publisher Harper Collins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International and has a more transatlantic presence.

Random House was widely thought to have struck an informal agreement with Mr Blair for his diaries last year.

The publisher also handled Mr Clinton's book My Life and the recent diaries by Mr Blair's high-profile spin doctor Alistair Campbell.

The announcement comes in the same week it emerged that ex-deputy prime minister John Prescott is in negotiations to sell his life story for an estimated £500,000.