'Without real principle': Greg Dyke attacked Tony Blair in an interview . Tony Blair has been branded ‘a shady figure’ and a ‘very sad man’ by former BBC director-general Greg Dyke. He also said the former Prime Minister had betrayed the founding principles of the Labour Party. It is the strongest criticism that Mr Dyke has levelled at Mr Blair since the row over the intelligence dossier on Saddam Hussein’s alleged ‘weapons of mass destruction’, which a BBC reporter claimed was ‘sexed up’ by No10 to strengthen the case for the invasion of Iraq. The resultant inquiry led to  Mr Dyke’s resignation. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Dyke also expressed contempt for Mr Blair’s business ventures, which have earned him a multi-million-pound fortune since he left Downing Street in 2007. Recalling an attempt by Mr Blair to ‘patch up’ their quarrel, Mr Dyke – now chairman of the Football Association – said: ‘He invited me for tea. I didn’t go. My relationship with him, which wasn’t worth anything, was completely broken. ‘I think Blair now is a very sad man, rich, but [he] betrayed everything the Labour Party was about. 'He’s a bit of a shady figure. If you go around a bunch of suspect Middle Eastern governments, taking vast sums for advising them – I laugh when everyone talks about senior pay, saying that no one must earn more than the Prime Minister. ‘I keep saying, “Hang on, is this what the Prime Minister earns in office or what the Prime Minister earns over the next 20 years?’ In his 2004 autobiography, Inside Story, Mr Dyke, 66, condemned the former PM as ‘a man without real principle’. His latest remarks reveal the resentment he still feels over his enforced departure from the BBC. Both he and the chairman, Gavyn Davies, stepped down after the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Government scientist Dr David Kelly and a furious attack on the BBC’s senior management by Mr Blair’s official spokesman, Alastair Campbell. Mr Dyke received a £456,000 payoff from the BBC, including  a bonus of £81,000. Attack: Mr Dyke, now chairman of the Football Association, stood down as BBC director-general after a government inquiry . He gave everything except the bonus to York University, where he had studied. Commenting on the current row over huge redundancy payments to BBC executives, he told the FT: ‘The problem at the BBC is that senior salaries went too high. Therefore, pay-offs became very high.’ The main reason he had given away nearly all his payoff  was that he didn’t want to have to answer questions about whether his BBC salary had been too large, he said. Asked how he coped with  losing the BBC job, he said: ‘I remember being p****d off for close on a couple of years. ‘I remember my daughter saying to me one day, “Why don’t you just get over it?” And I thought, “Yeah, that’s right.” ’
The former director-general attacked Mr Blair's lucrative business ventures .
He also said that he 'betrayed everything the Labour Party was about'
Mr Dyke was forced to resign after BBC claims that a dossier on alleged Iraq weapons of mass destruction was 'sexed up' ahead of 2003 invasion .
'Without real principle': Greg Dyke attacked Tony Blair in an interview . Tony Blair has been branded ‘a shady figure’ and a ‘very sad man’ by former BBC director-general Greg Dyke. He also said the former Prime Minister had betrayed the founding principles of the Labour Party. It is the strongest criticism that Mr Dyke has levelled at Mr Blair since the row over the intelligence dossier on Saddam Hussein’s alleged ‘weapons of mass destruction’, which a BBC reporter claimed was ‘sexed up’ by No10 to strengthen the case for the invasion of Iraq. The resultant inquiry led to  Mr Dyke’s resignation. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Dyke also expressed contempt for Mr Blair’s business ventures, which have earned him a multi-million-pound fortune since he left Downing Street in 2007. Recalling an attempt by Mr Blair to ‘patch up’ their quarrel, Mr Dyke – now chairman of the Football Association – said: ‘He invited me for tea. I didn’t go. My relationship with him, which wasn’t worth anything, was completely broken. ‘I think Blair now is a very sad man, rich, but [he] betrayed everything the Labour Party was about. 'He’s a bit of a shady figure. If you go around a bunch of suspect Middle Eastern governments, taking vast sums for advising them – I laugh when everyone talks about senior pay, saying that no one must earn more than the Prime Minister. ‘I keep saying, “Hang on, is this what the Prime Minister earns in office or what the Prime Minister earns over the next 20 years?’ In his 2004 autobiography, Inside Story, Mr Dyke, 66, condemned the former PM as ‘a man without real principle’. His latest remarks reveal the resentment he still feels over his enforced departure from the BBC. Both he and the chairman, Gavyn Davies, stepped down after the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Government scientist Dr David Kelly and a furious attack on the BBC’s senior management by Mr Blair’s official spokesman, Alastair Campbell. Mr Dyke received a £456,000 payoff from the BBC, including  a bonus of £81,000. Attack: Mr Dyke, now chairman of the Football Association, stood down as BBC director-general after a government inquiry . He gave everything except the bonus to York University, where he had studied. Commenting on the current row over huge redundancy payments to BBC executives, he told the FT: ‘The problem at the BBC is that senior salaries went too high. Therefore, pay-offs became very high.’ The main reason he had given away nearly all his payoff was that he didn’t want to have to answer questions about whether his BBC salary had been too large, he said. Asked how he coped with losing the BBC job, he said: ‘I remember being p****d off for close on a couple of years. ‘I remember my daughter saying to me one day, “Why don’t you just get over it?” And I thought, “Yeah, that’s right.” ’
former BBC director-general Greg Dyke. He also dossier on Saddam Hussein’s alleged ‘weapons of mass destruction’, which a BBC reporter claimed was ‘sexed up’ by No10 to strengthen the case for contempt for Mr Blair’s business ventures, which betrayed everything the Labour Party was about.