It will raise a lot of eyebrows as to issues of favouritism, said Brett Schaeffer, an analyst of aid policy at the think tank. It does raise legitimate questions: how was that relationship affecting these decisions?
David Miliband with Hillary Clinton
Mr Miliband, who was an advisor to Mr Blair before becoming an MP, was appointed to the cabinet by the then prime minister in 2006. As foreign secretary he later served with Mrs Clinton as his opposite number between 2009 and 2010.
In June 2012, when he had returned to the backbenches, he visited South Sudan at the request of Mr Blair ahead of AGI signing a deal to work in the country. His expenses were paid by the charity, which now has staff embedded in the leaders offices of seven states to help improve governance and attract foreign investment.
A cache of 600 pages of emails related to AGIs dealings with USAID now show that he emailed Mrs Clinton about the charity in September 2012, months before stepping down as a Labour MP.
The note was sent ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which as secretary of state Mrs Clinton was not legally allowed to attend. The Convention next week wont be the same without you, Mr Miliband wrote from his House of Commons email account.
I just wanted to touch base about South Sudan, he continued. The US like AGI see high priority in getting the Office of the President to function better, set priorities, focus on delivery, etc.
Now there is a chance of oil revenue flowing, we are keen to get the government focussing on its core tasks of development. It would be enormously helpful if your people in Juba could work closely with the AGI on this.
He added: USAID in other places are very supportive of AGI work. If you can give this a push that would be great.
Mrs Clinton, who is now considering running for president in 2016, replied three days later: David Ive asked Wendy Sherman, our political director, to coordinate our contacts w you and AGI and am copying her so you and she can communicate directly. We look forward to working w you to help South Sudan. H.
Read the original:
Hillary Clinton agreed to help Tony Blair's charity