Blair’s radiant looks courtesy costly cosmetics |
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Sun, 24 Jul 2005 18:35
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LONDON: The mystery behind Tony Blair's radiant smile and enhanced good looks post his election victory has now been solved after it emerged that the prime minister depends on cosmetics to present that suave appearance on TV and press meets as well as at the House of Commons.
It was revealed yesterday that Downing Street has spent close to £1,800 to get the prime minister ready for media appearances over the past six years from 1999 and 2005. No 10 spent about £1,050.22 of taxpayers' money to buy cosmetics for Blair and a further £791.20 on make-up artists.
The government whip Lord Bassam of Brighton revealed these figures. He was responding to a question tabled by the Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield on the final day before MP's broke up for the summer.
Lord Bassam also disclosed that when Blair was fighting off accusations of bungling on Iraq, between 2003 and 2004, the cosmetics bill was £815.67. Lord Bassam also said that there were no records of bills before 1999. Blair had been accused of slapping on fake tan in the run up to the May 5 elections. Analysts were particularly surprised to see him sprightly even on dull gray days and he had not even taken off for any holiday except a week at the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in early December/January. His own family members also contributed healthily to the debate saying that Blair's tan was "too good to be true."
In response to these new revelations, Claudia Croft, fashion editor of The Sunday Times, has called Tony Blair "the Tom Cruise of politics. Blair can’t look pasty and knackered, so he’d need fake tan, a bit of blusher, lots of hair gel and some foundation. Maybe he might use a bit of lip gloss," she said. She also added that since Blair had to be under the lights a lot of time, he could not afford to look sweaty which would convey an impression of untrustworthiness. "It’s about creating the glowing self-confident image," Ms Croft claimed.
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