Controversy over PM's holiday link with Bee Gee campaigner

Mr Blair's hopes of keeping his family's Christmas-week destination a secret were dashed when a British Airways jet carrying them from London overshot the runway in Miami and sent hordes of journalists rushing to the airport.

It emerged that Mr Blair would be staying at the 5.8 million home of Gibb, a singer with the band the Bee Gee's and a leading voice of the British Academy of Composers and Song Writers.

The industry body has urged the government to tighten protection for artists and, according to the organisation's website, which features pictures of Gibb, its duties involve "regularly talking to UK and EU politicians... and campaigning to protect the value of copyright".

The disclosure threatens to spark fresh accusations of a conflict of interest, as Gibb visited Westminster at the end of October to lobby MPs and ministers to extend copyright laws from 50 years to 100 years. He also attended a rally in the north of England for Mr Blair ahead of the last election.

Mr Blair's use of Sir Cliff Richard's 3m villa in Barbados for three holidays created a similar row over the summer, when it was revealed the Labour leader had urged the party to make copyright laws one of its priorities. Downing Street yesterday insisted that no impropriety had been committed.

A spokesman said Mr Blair had made a "financial arrangement" with Gibb to use his home for the holiday. A similarly-sized nine-bedroom villa in Miami Beach with pool and a water frontage, and close to the Gibb estate, is available at a monthly rental of 30,600.

How long the Blairs will stay, and what they will do during their Christmas break, is not known. "It's a private holiday and it's a private arrangement," said John Campbell, Gibb's manager.

Pete Wishart, an SNP MP who also lobbied for musicians to have their copyright protection extended, said he hoped the Prime Minister would at least secure better rights for the industry while on holiday.

The recent Gowers report into copyright laws, commissioned by the Treasury, ruled out extending the copyright for a century.

Mr Wishart said: "When friends such as Sir Cliff and Robin Gibb give shelter and support to the Prime Minister, you would expect him to listen to their appeals for a correction of this grossly unfair situation. It is just a shame that the Chancellor keeps scuppering his efforts."

After the drama of the landing, in which the plane and all 343 passengers were unharmed, the Blairs' arrival in Miami Beach was low key, with neighbours unaware of their prominent visitor.

"I didn't know until I read it in the newspaper like everybody else, but he's made a great choice and we're honoured that Mr Blair and his family are here," said David Dermer, the mayor of Miami Beach.

NOT-SO-HAPPY HOLIDAYS

HOLIDAYS are meant to be about "getting away from it all", but trouble seems to follow the Blair family, especially when the Prime Minister is off-duty.

His propensity for accepting the hospitality of fellow politicians, rock stars, royals and businessmen has given Tony Blair more stress than relaxation.

At Christmas 2004, he was criticised for not cutting short his Egyptian holiday in the aftermath of the Asian Boxing Day tsunami.

It later emerged that he had used the Royal Flight to ferry his family to their sunshine destination, costing taxpayers 31,000.

Mr Blair has also raised eyebrows by holidaying with Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, and in 2002 he spent his summer break with Alain Dominique Perrin, a businessman who held shares in British American Tobacco, the subject of a government smuggling investigation at the time.

David Whitaker, of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, said yesterday that the Blairs' latest holiday choice of south Florida followed a path trod by politicians such as the late former US president Richard Nixon.

Given the cash-for-peerages inquiry clouding the Prime Minister's final months in office, Mr Blair will hope the similarity with Mr Nixon ends with their choice of holiday destination.