Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair may be planning to follow in the footsteps of another British leader who bought a home in Barbados as a retirement property.
After Sir Anthony Eden stepped down as Prime Minister, he acquired Villa Nova in St John, where he lived off and on. Now, the Sunday Telegraph in London has reported that Blair and his wife Cherie “are house-hunting in Barbados for a villa to add to their already formidable property empire.
The island is a favourite vacation and retirement spot for some of Britain’s leading celebrities, many of whom have bought properties there as investments”.
The Telegraph told its readers “the Blairs are believed to have been looking for a house on the former British colony, which has long been their favoured holiday destination, for at least three months”.
It quoted several sources as saying that hundreds of digital photographs of properties have been emailed to the couple, but a spokesman for the couple said “they have definitely, 100 per cent categorically not bought a home in Barbados”.
But if a real estate agent, a solicitor and friends of the Blairs are to be believed, the former Prime Minister and his wife have, at the very least, expressed an interest in buying a home here, and one of the places on their list is said to be Apes Hill, where as many as 200 high-priced properties are being built on prime land.
The plots alone can run anywhere from US$400 000 to several millions.
For example, the Telegraph quoted a leading Bajan attorney as telling the paper she expected the Blairs to buy a property through a company – rather than in their own names – “in an attempt to disguise the purchase for security and privacy reasons”.
And a Barbadian with whom the couple discussed the idea of buying a home said: “He told me he is a great admirer of our state education system and he would have liked his children to have gone to school in Barbados.”
The source was described as an “islander, who has become friendly with the former prime minister during his many visits” to the island when he led the United Kingdom.
The news of his interest in Barbados came a few days before his long-awaited memoir, Tony Blair: The Journey, was published yesterday, and has created a sensation in and out political circles.
The former prime minister’s personal wealth is believed to range from £20 million to £60 million. They already own seven properties, the latest of which was recently bought in London for almost £1 million.
