LONDON (Hollywood Today/AFP) 8/17/07 — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is looking for “Clinton money,” the phrase some publishers now use to indicate a blockbuster advance on memoirs. Former President Bill Clinton got $12 million for his book deal, and Blair has recruited the same Washington, DC attorney, Robert Barnett, to broker him such a deal, sources close to the former P.M. told local media.

Publishing insiders estimate that an autobiography by Blair, who left Downing Street on June 27 after 10 years in office, would fetch a similar amount to Clinton’s advance. The deals signal a new ceiling in the publishing world. Rolling Stone Keith Richards recently received a reported $7.3 million advance for his fabled memoirs, in a business where $5 million used to be considered top dollar.

Blair’s spokesman declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP.

According to Britain’s domestic Press Association, those close to Blair insist that nothing has yet been concluded, despite rumours that publishers Random House had struck an informal deal with Blair for his memoirs last year.

Random House were the publishers of Clinton’s memoirs and also published the diaries of Blair’s former aide and Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell.

Blair said last February that he did not keep a personal diary during his decade in office and will have to balance writing his memoirs with his responsibility as international envoy of the Middle East Quartet.