--- title: Save the Children Staff Furious over Tony Blair Award description: The charity faces major backlash for its decision to give an award to former British prime minister canonical: https://time.com/3607141/save-the-children-tony-blair-award-criticism/ author: Naina Bajekal article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-26T11:41:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:24:11.934Z article:section: Politics og:title: Save the Children Staff Furious over Tony Blair Award og:description: The charity faces major backlash for its decision to give an award to former British prime minister og:url: https://time.com/3607141/save-the-children-tony-blair-award-criticism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt351da30d6250c548/69876b2f2dce016fb59dc0a4/tony-blair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Tony Blair og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Save the Children Staff Furious over Tony Blair Award twitter:description: The charity faces major backlash for its decision to give an award to former British prime minister twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt351da30d6250c548/69876b2f2dce016fb59dc0a4/tony-blair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Save the Children Staff Call Tony Blair's Award 'Morally Reprehensible' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Nov 26, 2014 11:41 AM UTC  Former British prime minister Tony Blair attends the 2nd annual Save The Children Illumination Gala at the Plaza in New York, Nov. 19, 2014. Former British prime minister Tony Blair attends the 2nd annual Save The Children Illumination Gala at the Plaza in New York, Nov. 19, 2014. Erik Pendzich—Demotix/Corbis  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Nov 26, 2014 11:41 AM UTC A week after the U.S. branch of Save the Children (STC) presented Tony Blair with a “global legacy award” in New York, almost 200 staff at the charity[ have signed an internal letter saying the award is](http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/25/save-the-children-furious-charity-global-legacy-tony-blair) “inappropriate and a betrayal to Save the Children’s founding principles and values.” The letter says that U.K. management were not consulted about the award and want it to be withdrawn since it was not only “morally reprehensible, but also endangers our credibility globally.” The American arm of STC presented Blair with the award at a gala at the Plaza Hotel in New York on Nov. 19 for his “leadership on international development”, citing his debt relief work and the [Make Poverty History campaign](http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/takeaction/). A [separate online petition](https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-save-the-children-charity-from-giving-tony-blair-their-annual-global-legacy-award?bucket=blast) calling for STC to revoke the award says Blair’s “legacy in Iraq overshadows his achievements in Africa”, adding that many see him “as the cause of the deaths of countless children in the Middle East.” The petition had gathered more than 97,000 signatures by Tuesday morning. \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/25/save-the-children-furious-charity-global-legacy-tony-blair)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3607141/save-the-children-tony-blair-award-criticism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3607141/save-the-children-tony-blair-award-criticism/"},"headline":"Save the Children Staff Call Tony Blair's Award 'Morally Reprehensible'","datePublished":"2014-11-26T11:41:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:24:11.934Z","description":"The charity faces major backlash for its decision to give an award to former British prime minister","url":"https://time.com/3607141/save-the-children-tony-blair-award-criticism/","keywords":["politics","Charity","New York City","United Kingdom"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt351da30d6250c548/69876b2f2dce016fb59dc0a4/tony-blair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naina Bajekal","jobTitle":"Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt351da30d6250c548/69876b2f2dce016fb59dc0a4/tony-blair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tony Blair","caption":"Former British prime minister Tony Blair attends the 2nd annual Save The Children Illumination Gala at the Plaza in New York, Nov. 19, 2014.","creditText":"Erik Pendzich—Demotix/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3607141/save-the-children-tony-blair-award-criticism/","name":"Save the Children Staff Call Tony Blair's Award 'Morally Reprehensible'"}}]}] ```