How Blair’s institute responded to fresh “cash for access” questions
Posted: 1st October 2026
Tony’s minor tantrum: how Blair’s institute responded to fresh “cash for access” questions
We asked TBI about allegations of £500,000 corporate memberships and a logo that vanished at Labour conference. They said they’re not talking to us anymore
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“You are clearly driven by a partisan anti-TBI agenda, using TBI as clickbait to support your own business model. We will not be engaging with you any further on this.”
Above is how the Tony Blair Institute responded when we put new questions to it this week.
Last week, Democracy for Sale and Lighthouse Reports revealed that Blair’s think tank charges companies from $25,000 a year for a corporate network offering “networking” at party conferences. One anti-corruption expert said it “looks and smells like a cash for access scheme”. TBI denies any impropriety.
Then a well-placed source came forward to say that at least one company paid £500,000 to join TBI’s corporate network. “We were charging whatever we could get away with charging,” they said.
“Basically what we were offering was a conference stand at 10 times the price you’d pay anywhere else,” the source added. “If you’re a British brand you don’t need that. It’s those that need a way into government that will pay.”
Another ex-staff member said that TBI set up a corporate network due to “frustration” that Labour-linked lobbying firms “were making ££££ around conference season”.
Internal documents we obtained show a list of top tier TBI “strategic members”, including Coinbase, Visa, Bridgepoint, Redbird Capital, ServiceNow and General Catalyst.
At Labour conference in Liverpool, I watched a TBI event with treasury minister Emma Reynolds. General Catalyst’s policy lead – himself a former TBI employee – was on the platform, but the firm’s logo was missing. We’d been told it asked to be removed from TBI’s programme after our story. (General Catalyst hasn’t responded.)
,w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F726bb63d-3c3c-4065-960a-4c491854c936_866×496.png” height=”315”>Missing corporate logo…. TBI event at Labour conference on Monday
So since our story last week, we had been told that some companies were paying far more than we have reported to join TBI’s corporate network and at least one seemed to have distanced themselves following our reporting.
We then did what responsible journalists should do – we put all these allegations, along with a series of questions, in an email to TBI. You’ve already read their response.
TBI refused to answer any of our questions and pretty much said they’re not talking to us anymore. This is an organisation that advises governments in 45 countries. Questions about who pays for access to it – and the ministers in its contacts book – are squarely in the public interest.
Nobody gets into investigative journalism to make friends. Your job is to tell stories others want kept hidden. That often means annoying people. Powerful people.
But that doesn’t mean powerful people – and their organisations – get to dodge accountability. We will keep reporting.