London, Nov.17: One would have thought that the Blairs’—Tony and Cherie – were quite happy to leave 10, Downing Street after a decade of occupancy, but close friends say both appear quite miserable away from the corridors of power.

According to the Daily Mail, some of their friends said that rather than enjoying their high life after leaving office, the former premier and his wife are struggling to come to terms with life outside Downing Street, Whitehall and Westminster.

One recent visitor to Tony and Cherie's new 3.65 million pound new home in Hyde Park, was quoted as saying, "There is an all-pervading joylessness about the place. Tony is very low. Neither of them is happy. The initial sense of relief both of them felt when they left Downing Street has gone, and they are having trouble adjusting. I always felt that once the money started rolling in, Cherie, in particular, would perk up, but even she is miserable.”

"As soon as you walk through the front door, there is a bad vibe. The house feels soulless and there is tension in the air," he added.

On the face of it, retirement seems to agree with Tony Blair. He is leaner and fitter than when he left Downing Street nearly five months ago. Gone is the vaguely haunted look that characterised his final, troubled days in office.

Part of the problem, friends, however say, is that Cherie is using much of the downstairs of their house in Connaught Square as an office and every morning their home is invaded by her staff, which now includes a chauffeur.

The friend added: "Her staff are milling about constantly. It feels more like a business than a home."

The mood has not been helped, insiders say, by a war of attrition being waged by the two teams the Blairs have hired to oversee their separate offices.

At the centre of the acrimony is Martha Greene, the New York-born former restaurant owner who acts as Cherie's manager.

The energetic Miss Greene is said to be so at odds with members of Mr. Blair's office that Tony has chosen to escape to his friend Matthew Freud's during the day to work on his autobiography simply to keep the peace. Once completed, the autobiography will net the Blairs’ a lucrative six million pounds.

One source said: "Martha is bossy beyond belief. The aggravation is affecting everyone. Tony needs to get out of the house for some peace and to work."

Now that he is free to pursue the millions on offer to him after life in No 10, the former Prime Minister already bears the unmistakable buffed glow of a moneymaker.

He has even found time for the occasional game of tennis, although not yet the lie-ins he promised himself once he was no longer running the country.

Indeed, Blair has quickly honed his taste for the high living to which he has always been drawn.

Friends say he has, of late, been extolling the virtues of the private Gulfstream jets that are now his preferred mode of travel. Those wishing to book him on the international lecture circuit are routinely told that providing Mr Blair with his own airliner is a non-negotiable requirement.

Blair may have earned 183,000 pounds during his first lecture tour of North America last month and 240,000 pounds while on a visit to China, but he cannot come to terms with his new role as a "civilian".

This is perhaps unsurprising given that Blair's status has been reduced from that of world statesman to little more than a celebrity for hire. (ANI)