Hillary lobbied by Cherie Blair to meet Qatari royal

Washington

Lobbying activities of the Clintons and the Blairs are now under scrutiny after emails show wife of former British PM sought “women to women” meeting with the US secretary of state.

Cherie Blair repeatedly pressured Hillary Clinton to meet a leading Qatari royal when Clinton was US secretary of state, according to newly released emails that raise fresh questions about the lobbying activities of all three political families.

The wife of the former British PM Tony Blair, exchanged 19 emails with Clinton over four months in 2009 as she sought to arrange the meeting on behalf of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, an informal but influential ambassador for Qatar on the world stage.

“Sheika Mozah has approached me privately saying they are keen to get their relationship with the US onto a more positive footing and she was hoping for a ‘women to women’ one to one private meeting with you,” Blair wrote in the first of a series of emails addressed to Hillary, which were released by the US State Department after a legal battle to recover correspondence Clinton had stored on a private server.

After initially suggesting they shared a philanthropic interest in disability charities, Blair added: “I am sure the conversation would not be confined to these issues but would be about the US-Qatar relationship generally.”