We were contacted by a tipster who revealed that Euan Blair had purchased a property with the help of his mother Cherie.  Within hours we had placed the story with the Daily Mail earning the source a four figure sum.

Now the Blairs buy Euan a £1.3m pad...taking former PM's portfolio to £14m

The first time she decided to buy property for him, Cherie Blair was forced into a tearful public apology. Eight years after that controversial purchase of two flats in Bristol, Mrs Blair is helping eldest son Euan to buy a £1.3million London townhouse.

It means the family has amassed property worth an astonishing £14million since Tony Blair entered Downing Street. Their expanding portfolio now totals seven homes, including four in central London.

The latest addition is a four-storey, Grade II-listed townhouse just a few streets away from the Blairs' £3.7million Connaught Square mansion.

Mrs Blair and Euan, 26, secured the three-bedroom Edwardian house in Marylebone for £200,000 under its £1.5million asking price.

Land Registry documents revealed they used a mortgage to buy the property together in April. It was not clear whether the mortgage was taken out by Mrs Blair or her son, who reportedly received a six-figure bonus from investment bank Morgan Stanley this year.

His spacious new townhouse boasts three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a bespoke designer kitchen, study, dining room and garden.

Friends said Euan had 'outgrown' the two-bedroom basement flat he bought two years ago in Islington, North London. 

He has accepted a £500,000 offer for the flat but is staying there while builders refurbish his new home.

The Blairs' architect Simon Templeton has already submitted plans to install a skylight as well as a gate in the railings outside the listed property. 

Euan's new home could soon rival his younger brother Nicky's nearby mews house, dubbed the 'ultimate lads' pad'. Nicky, 24, bought the £1.13million property with his mother last year, mortgage-free.

Meanwhile the Blairs' daughter Kathryn, 22, is studying law in Strasbourg, where she has an Erasmus scholarship.

A source close to Mr Blair told the Daily Mail: 'It started off with buying Euan a flat, but after Nicky got the house then Euan wanted one as well. 'Kathryn is the only one of the children who seems not to be fussed about accumulating all this material wealth.'

Mrs Blair, 55, was forced into a humiliating public apology after enlisting Australian conman Peter Foster – the boyfriend of her friend Carole Caplin – to negotiate a discount on two flats in Bristol in 2002 while Euan was a student in the city.