• Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech
Stories from SWNS
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
Stories from SWNS
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Tony Blair criticised by graduates for refusing to pay interns… despite being the PM who brought in the minimum wage

by
October 26, 2012
in News
0
Former PM Tony Blair, pictured at the World Economic Forum, has been criticised for not paying interns, despite being the man to introduce the minimum wage

Former PM Tony Blair, pictured at the World Economic Forum, has been criticised for not paying interns, despite being the man to introduce the minimum wage

0
SHARES
15
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Multi-millionaire Tony Blair was condemned yesterday for refusing to pay his interns — despite being the PM who introduced the minimum wage.

The former Prime Minister made around £20million last year and earns a staggering £200,000 for a speech.

But when it comes to employing junior staff on short-term contracts the controversial politician only pays them lunch and travel expenses.

Former PM Tony Blair, pictured at the World Economic Forum, has been criticised for not paying interns, despite being the man to introduce the minimum wage
Former PM Tony Blair, pictured at the World Economic Forum, has been criticised for not paying interns, despite being the man to introduce the minimum wage

One graduate, who does not want to be named, applied for an internship towards the end of last year.

He was delighted to be accepted but the role fell through when he asked to work four-days a week so he could earn money from a part-time job to pay his bills.

The office of Blair refused the request and instead offered the position to someone else.

He now works in Singapore but hit out at a seemingly hypocritical recruitment policy of the ex-PM whose Government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act in 1998.

“I was distraught when the offer was later retracted, after I realised that I would have to give up my part-time job in order to work full-time without a salary,” the man told careers website GraduateFog.co.uk.

“London is one of the most expensive cities in the world and I realised my rent and travel costs alone would amount to over £550 a month.

“There was no way that the lunch and travel expenses offered would cover that.

“Even though the internship sounded like a huge opportunity, I just couldn’t afford to give up my only source of income.

“It would have been amazing for my CV and my future prospects.

“It’s very disappointing that a prime minister who dedicated himself to equal opportunity for all has effectively made this internship available only to those who don’t need to be paid to work.”

The introduction of a minimum wage received widespread praise and, in 2010, it was named the most successful government policy of the past 30 years in a survey of British political experts.

But unpaid internships are regularly criticised – particularly in London – because of claims they exploit those who do them and exclude those who can’t afford to do them

The embarrassing situation was broken by the ‘Graduate Fog’ website, which gives careers advice to job-seeking graduates.

Tanya de Grunwald, founder of GraduateFog.co.uk, criticised Blair for following in the footsteps of multi-millionaires like Simon Cowell and Sir Philip Green by not paying interns.

She said: “Interns around the country will be choking on the irony: the man who introduced the minimum wage doesn’t pay his own young staff, who manage his diary and open his post.

“Legalities aside, this is just plain wrong. If someone is doing proper, useful work in his office, Blair has a duty to pay them.

“Yes, the experience will look great on their CV – but it won’t pay their rent or buy bread.

“It is also unfair that anybody who can’t afford to work for three months unpaid can’t take up this opportunity.

“Unpaid work is not the solution to youth unemployment – it is already a big part of the problem.”

Since Blair, 59, left his role as Prime Minister in 2007, he has been in huge demand as an adviser around the world.

He has pocketed a small fortune and built up an impressive property portfolio with experts estimating he earned £20 million last year.

The politician also earns around £200,000 a speech and is employed in various roles with US investment bank JP Morgan paying him £2.5 million a year for his advice.

Tony Blair’s office defended its internships and said they “value” their interns “very highly”.

A statement from the office said: “Each internship lasts for around 3 months and is designed to give young people valuable experience in a high profile and fast moving work environment.

“We support all our interns by paying travel and lunch expenses.”

Previous Post

British man stabbed in Thailand by organised gang of sex attackers who targeted his girlfriend

Next Post

Shop that’s sold trousers for 126 YEARS to close after being hit by the recession

Next Post
Richard Cole, 36, one of the owners of the of 'The Famous' clothes shop which is to close due to the recession

Shop that's sold trousers for 126 YEARS to close after being hit by the recession

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 111 Followers
  • 60k Followers
  • 168k Subscribers
  • 23.5k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

March 5, 2014
The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

January 21, 2014
The horses thunder towards a jump at the Grand National

Amazing racehorse names which never made it

April 23, 2014
HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

January 14, 2019
Chris Fear, 33, outside the Coral betting shop which is refusing to pay out on his 485/1 winning bet

Boycott Coral! Bookmaker faces protest after refusing to pay out on a football fan’s 485/1 bet

184
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

147
Women feel invisible to the opposite sex at the age of 51, researchers found

Women begin feeling invisible to men ‘when they turn 51’

138
UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

105
Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

May 13, 2022
Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

May 6, 2022
The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

May 4, 2022
How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

May 4, 2022

Recent News

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

May 13, 2022
Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

May 6, 2022
The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

May 4, 2022
How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

May 4, 2022
SWNS

SWNS all rights reserved. Copyright 2020

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Auto
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Gaming
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Pictures
  • Property
  • Review
  • Sport
  • SWNS
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

May 13, 2022
Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

May 6, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.