The telephone call to the Royal British Legion came out of the blue. The female voice on the other end of the line wanted to know whether the charity was willing to accept a donation from a wealthy benefactor, whose identity she was not – at that stage – at liberty to divulge. Chris Simpkins, the charity’s director general, explained that the British Legion was happy to take all donations not in breach of its charter. The woman listened intently before informing Mr Simpkins she would get back to him.
Two hours later the mystery woman called again. Identifying herself as Catherine Rimmer, she said she could now reveal that she worked on behalf of Tony Blair and that he wanted to donate to the Legion the proceeds from his forthcoming autobiography. The final amount would depend on sales, explained Miss Rimmer, but would be in the region of £4- to £5 million. The boss of the Legion could not believe his ears. Mr Blair was promising to give his charity its largest ever single donation.
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