I always asked myself what's in it for Blair...

But the Blairs' famously poor choice of property investments has saddled the family with an annual mortgage bill of around £200,000. The new house in Connaught Square is alone mortgaged to the tune of £3.5m.

When one adds such incidentals as the £18,000-a-year cost of childcare and helping the Blairs' older children through university, the urgency for cash becomes abundantly obvious.

Independent Online Edition - Tony & Cherie's American Dream