U.S. Government Gave Blairs’ Charities $1.5-Million

Nonprofit organizations led by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife, Cherie, have received nearly $1.5-million in grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in recent years, U.K. daily The Telegraph reports.

The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, which assists female entrepreneurs in developing countries, confirmed last week that it got $625,965 from USAID in the 2011-12 budget year for a project to help women in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ghana launch businesses. The agency awarded Mr. Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative about $844,000 in 2011. The British government has turned down funding requests from Mr. Blair’s organization.

Ms. Blair is a close friend of Hillary Clinton, who as then-secretary of state had oversight of USAID when the grants were made, but the foundation and the agency said the relationship played no role in the funding. A spokesman for Ms. Blair’s charity said it “followed exactly the same application process as any other organization applying for a grant from USAID.”