Despite the vast damage he has done to the UK through the Iraq war and unprecedented immigration, Tony Blair is probably the most eloquent speaker on the planet. This is probably why he is such a big draw for speaches, and probably why he became Prime Minister.

Mark, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Pig in the trough!

Rod Polisher, Scunthorpe, UK

So what. Sports stars get lots of money. Maybe the reaction is due to their society not really seeing the value of public discourse : p Or they might just be embarrassed that a human exposed what's going on inside their farmhouse.

Anyway, what else would they have spent their money on? A big lump of coal? Blair is better value - he got nice ties and produces less CO2. He did start a war by accident but then he got a nice smile and can be sometimes found singing in asia.

Graeme, London, UK

Alasdair Macdonald says, "who wouldn't do exactly the same given the opportunity "

Well, I would take the money, but I would make the effort to give an interesting speech in return for it.

Brew Grothnagh, blaenau ffestiniog,

Tony Blair took England to war, siding with the Americans, with one eye on his post PM benefits. This certainly is on of them.

Anon E Mous, London,

He should have charged "45" thousand pounds. To keep things consistent.

Mohammed, London, UK

Best of luck to him, I'm sure Cameron would never charge a an appearance fee!! If Chinese paid up the have no right to critisize, they could have said no. Such hypocracy from the new capitalists, if only they could charge an appearance fee!!!

Stan B, Hong Kong,

I think it is difficult to be objective about the man who took us into the Iraq war. I'm sure he must have managed to do something worthy or good whilst he was Prime Minister, but Iraq negates them.

Nick, Eastboune, UK

Ho hum, more anti-blair comments. Yawn.

If you had the chace to make that much money, would you turn it down?

Dougie Newell, Saltcoats, UK

I tell my Chinese friends that we are lucky it was not his wife who came!

Bill McCann, Suzhou, China

Is this disjointed Chinese thinking? Surely the blame should lie with the organization that set up the trip, Guangda Group. Why Mr. Blair should be chastised for taking other people's money is beyond me - what was he supposed to do, tell them "pay me less"?. I don't know about other respondents here, but I'll take as much money as I can when offered a job...

Menno Aartsen, Fredericksburg, VA, USA

The Blairs exemplify perfectly how champaign socialism works. Ostensibly and superficially they and their spin doctors proclaim their socialist credentials, they prattle endlessly about social justice, human rights and equality of opportunity.
Privately, they and their like just cannot keep their snouts out of the trough.
It's disgusting and nauseating to witness.

Rick, London, England

How come Tony Blair changed SO much after becoming
PM? Until late 1997 he could do no wrong, and even the Daily Mail ran a piece around 1995 saying how could he might be for the country. Once the Bernie Eccleston donation to labour funds, the man has been unable to do much right in the eyes of the media. John Major for example, has been earning himself a living wage from his status as a former PM, and even survived the revelation of his dalliance with Edwina Currie with barely a ripple. Now with some help from the Chinese, Blair is getting it in the neck again. Politics has become similar to a branch of the entertainment business so it's no surprise that ex-PMs can command similarly crazy sums as so many do in sport and show business.

Michael Wells, Rushden, Northamptonshire, England

He should be in prison.

Michael S. Stumm, Battle Creek, MI, US

Looks like they got their money back in exposure (advertising) about an event no-one would know anything about otherwise.
If the Chinese feel shafted, how do they think we feel about the way they treated Longbridge.

Ian, Birmingham, UK

Let he who is without sin... Whatever you may think of the Blairs, who wouldn't do exactly the same given the opportunity of having such an earning potential? The fault lies with the people who spend the money, not those who receive it. It has been neither stolen, nor ransomed. If the Chinese Governemt are that fussed, I think I may be right in thinking that they maybe do not have to observe the same social proprieties that we do if they had wished the funds to be diverted elsewhere...?

Alasdair Macdonald, Southampton, Hants

They have sussed him too then. What an awful example he sets.

SOS, Oxon,

Now that TONY BLAIR has stepped down as prime
i firmly believe that he must be brought before the WAR CRIMES panel for his part in sending BRITISH troops to a WAR we can never win.He was given NO mandate by the BRITISH people or his ELECTED parliament yet he was willing to listen to GEORGE BUSH and invade another country ILLEGALLY ,also ANY money he earns from his memoirs? should be given to the many dead and maimed familys of BOTH sides.War never solved ANY problems as two world wars has shown.

glyn david evans, newport city, south wales

I live in London W2, near Mr. Blair's new residence. At the front and back entrances are several policemen wielding machine guns, their fingers on the triggers, paid for by me and my fellow taxpayers. In view of the large sums of money being paid to Mr. Blair for his, no doubt educational, lectures around the world, may I respectfully suggest that the police are stood down from their jobs in Connaught Square and Mr. Blair hires his own gunmen? I am sure that there are some unemployed former staffers of Blackwater who could be engaged at a reasonable rate.

Paul Amery, London, UK

So Blair shut out journalists and stopped transmission of his Q&A session ! and all this on full display in a communist country !

I send my sincere sympathy to the good people of China who have to suffer this over paid windbag moralising at them !

Should China feel the urge to invite the other half of the pantomime double act - I am certain 'prudence' Brown may have time on his hands in the next few years !!

DaveL, Swindon, Wiltshire

Is it really that surprising to people that Tony Blair is a devious, money-grubbing sleazebag?

Ellyssa, Brighton,

Good luck to him if the Chinese are gullible enough to fall for it. But, why is anyone surprised given the world's appetite for the cult of celebrity?

Brian, Farnham, UK

So it's not just the British taxpayer that thinks so, then ...

Anyway - I thought he was made a special envoy to the Middle East, or has China's move more toward the west been more than a political statement.

KR, Stockport,

If Blair has any conscience (which I doubt) he should donate this money to the families of dead and wounded soldiers who fought in iraq.

Izhar Khan, aberdeen,

I would do it for half the money. How does one apply?

D Harper, London, U

He and his wife are tarred with the same brush. What a terrible advert they are for this country.

D Case, Newquay,

Good on China to condemn the ex-PM. Rather than set a moral example, which he was best at while he was PM, to the Chinese he sets a rather foul example. So foul that the Chinese whom he was good at complaining about have to criticise in utter disbelief!

Huai Dang, Bedford, UK

New Labour, New Sleaze!

JohnC, Warwick, UK