Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair is coming under pressure to donate to charity a reported payment of 90,000 British pounds (about $146,673) for a controversial speech in Azerbaijan, British news services report.

Several opposition British MPs are contending that it improper for a former prime minister to receive remuneration from the Azerbaijani government, or its supporters, The Sunday Telegraph reported on December 13. "He should not be profiting from a country that flagrantly ignores human rights," Labor Party MP Peter Kilfoyle was quoted by The Sunday Telegraph as saying.

Blair was reportedly paid by an Azerbaijani tycoon to attend a December 1 signing ceremony for a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development financing agreement for the country's first methanol plant. His praise for Azerbaijan's energy potential, but omission of the country's dismal human rights record touched off the controversy within the United Kingdom.