The Blairs £8,000-a-night New Year in the Seychelles
THE middle-class banjo strummers Mumford & Sons continue to divide the populace.
A fellow traveller on a New York flight tweets: ‘As if I couldn’t hate Mumford & Sons even more, they’re on my flight and we can’t eat peanuts cos one of them has a nut allergy.’
The band’s keyboard player, Ben Lovett, is allergic to the salted snack and has to take peanut-free flights to get around the world. The group refuses to fly with certain airlines such as BA and Virgin because peanuts are served on board.
Perhaps a rousing singalong might have eased the cabin tension.
WHEN Tony Blair was j ust a humble Prime Minister, he used to rely on the hospitality of his wealthy celebrity chums for some winter sun. Now that he’s a jet-setting millionaire deal maker — he’s said to have amassed a fortune north of £60 m — he can afford to make his own fun.
Blair spent the New Year en famille at the Seychelles’ Four Seasons resort, a luxury hideaway on the main island of Mahe, popular with honeymooning celebs and the mega rich. The party, which included the Blairs’ four children Euan, Kathryn, Nicky and Leo, as well as the two eldest boys’ wives, are thought to have taken a villa at the palm-fringed resort, costing over £8,000 a night.
It is certainly an upgrade from the family’s last visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago in 1999, when they lodged on an estate owned by the Seychelles’ then President France-Albert René.
During their recent stay, I’m told the Blairs chartered a luxury fishing boat to La Digue island to have lunch at the Fish Trap restaurant, where they dined on octopus curry and grilled local jobfish.
‘Tony and the owner, Carl Mills, chatted about how much the whole family love the Seychelles,’ says my source. ‘I saw him sink two beers during lunch, so he was obviously quite relaxed.’
Afterwards, I am told the Blairs went to L’Union Estate to see the old plantation house where they stayed on their previous visit. Apparently, the Blairs were keen to track down a giant tortoise they met on that holiday and which they christened Nicky, after their middle son.
It was during the 1999 trip that Blair was reported to have helped save a Danish holidaymaker from drowning in the sea after he began to struggle with the currents.
Blair was then accused of hypocrisy upon his arrival back in the UK when it emerged his three eldest children had returned to school late after their holiday — only days after his govern- ment announced plans to clamp down on term-time absences.
However, a spokesman for Blair did not respond f or comment when asked whether Leo, 15, made it back in time for the new school term.