London, July 18 (ANI): Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing a parliamentary inquiry into the spiraling cost of his security after six police officers were photographed guarding the rear of his house.
According to the Daily Express, local residents have complained that the presence of such large number of armed officers is making them nervous and affecting the once calm atmosphere of the upmarket neighbourhood.
"The armed officers sit at the back in full view of everyone with their guns on a table, sipping coffee, they work on shifts so we think there are 20 or so involved. Some days you have to thread your way past three heavily armed men just to get into your street...it's utterly ridiculous," one neighbour said.
Tory MP Mark Field is expected to table a Commons question this week about the costs of protecting Blair, estimated at six million pounds a year and rising.
He said that the state should only pay to protect one of his homes and all other security should be met from the money he earns from capitalising on his years as Prime Minister.
The paper also stated that the officers on house guard are in addition to around 16 other close protection officers who constantly guard him as he travels around the world on private money-making ventures or when in the Middle East, where he acts as a part-time envoy for the European Union, America, the UN and Russia.
Field is also writing to the Public Accounts Committee suggesting them to begin an investigation into the costs of protecting the properties and how much the bill will come to over Blair's lifetime. (ANI)
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