The Government was tonight embroiled in a cronyism row as it emerged Tony Blair secretly lobbied for his billionaire backer who could make millions of pounds from Labour’s controversial digital ID cards.
Documents seen by The Mail on Sunday reveal the former prime minister urged Business Secretary Peter Kyle to consult a technology institute founded by his friend Larry Ellison in a private meeting last year.
Mr Ellison, the world’s second richest man, has donated or pledged a staggering £257million for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
He founded the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), a research centre in Oxford, and is chairman of tech giant Oracle, which has a £700million IT deal with four Whitehall departments.
Experts say Oracle is now in pole position to profit from plans to force millions of adults to sign up for a digital ID card.
And an exclusive MoS analysis can reveal that after Sir Tony’s meeting with Mr Kyle, Mr Ellison’s organisations have enjoyed astonishing access to the very top of Government.
Indeed, staff from Oracle and EIT have met with ministers and senior officials no fewer than 29 times in nine months.
Mr Kyle, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have met bosses from Oracle.
Former PM Tony Blair is seen on a boat with Larry Ellison, whose technology institute could make millions of pounds from Labour’s controversial digital ID cards
Meanwhile science minister Lord Vallance has met EIT representatives seven times – one was to discuss ‘EIT plans for expansion and alignment with Government’s priorities’, official records show.
Sir Tony has had a decades-long ‘bromance’ with Mr Ellison, who is worth £290billion, and last year enjoyed a lavish Mediterranean holiday on his superyacht.
On Saturday, Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘Despite Keir Starmer’s promises of a ‘crackdown on cronyism’, these revelations show it runs right to the very top of this rotten Labour Government.
‘Tony Blair lobbying Peter Kyle to set up meetings with groups linked to Larry Ellison – now in pole position for the Government’s Digital ID contract – reeks of a blatant conflict of interest. This has all the hallmarks of yet another cosy deal between Labour insiders and powerful vested interests.’
Official papers released under Freedom of Information laws show Sir Tony met Mr Kyle, then technology secretary, at the former PM’s London office on September 12, 2024.
During the meeting Sir Tony ‘noted the work of the Ellison Institute… and recommended that SoS [Secretary of State Peter Kyle] sought a briefing on their work’, according to official civil service minutes obtained by investigative website Democracy for Sale. He highlighted how the institute could become ‘an excellent resource’.
The documents show an official at Mr Kyle’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was instructed to ‘look at how we should engage’ with the institute. Sir Tony is among a ‘faculty of fellows’ at EIT, whose campus in Oxford is due to be completed in 2027.
The papers also show that Sir Tony asked the cabinet minister ‘where he could support the department’ and highlighted the huge cost savings that digital identity cards could bring.
‘TB noted that the Indian Government had saved $15 billion in fraudulent costs using digital ID,’ the minutes of the meeting state.
On Saturday, representatives for Sir Tony said that in the meeting he discussed ‘the investment Larry Ellison is making in science and technology in the UK’.
Keir Starmer last week provoked a backlash after announcing that anyone who wants to work in the UK will need a digital ID card.
Sir Tony has long championed the policy and his think-tank told the MoS on Saturday that the roll-out would ‘boost the British economy’.
Sir Tony (left) has had a decades-long ‘bromance’ with Mr Ellison (right), who is worth £290billion – making him the world’s second richest man
But civil liberties groups have warned it risks creating ‘a dystopian nightmare’, while a petition against the plan on Saturday passed 1.6million signatures.
Tech experts believe Oracle, a giant database and software firm co-founded by Ellison in 1977, could gain commercially from the introduction of the scheme.
It is understood the ID cards will rely on a huge ‘Right to Work’ database that is estimated to cost between £150m to £400m.
Oracle already has a series of major NHS technology contracts and provides so-called cloud competing services for the Home Office, Department of Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a deal worth up to £1bn.
The firm landed a further tech contract with the Home Office worth £53million last week, government documents reveal.
Technology writer Andrew Orlowski said: ‘The Government’s digital identity system creates lucrative new opportunities for Oracle, a database company.
It has already hoovered up major government IT contracts in recent years and will be in pole position to land future work linked to ID cards.
‘Tony Blair is really just a salesman for the tech companies, and flies around the world looking for naive Governments who want to believe in magical solutions.’
In February, appearing with Sir Tony at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Ellison called for Governments to ‘unify all of their data so it can be consumed and used by the AI model’.
A government spokesman said: ‘No decisions have been made on delivery, but our expectation is that it will be designed, built and run by in-house government teams, not outsourced to external suppliers.’
A spokesman for the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) said: ‘The collaboration between Oracle and TBI is well documented. The work Oracle and TBI do has nothing whatsoever to do with Digital ID.
‘We don’t advocate for technology solutions because we work with Oracle. We work with Oracle and other technology companies because we believe technology holds the key to the future.’
Oracle declined to comment.
