CLIFF RICHARD - CLIFF PERSUADES BLAIR TO ALTER COPYRIGHT LAWS

Pop veteran SIR CLIFF RICHARD has reportedly persuaded British Prime Minister TONY BLAIR to consider changing music copyright laws in his favour. The BACHELOR BOY singer is currently playing host to the UK leader at his lavish villa in Barbados. And his hospitality is paying off - he has been lobbying to lengthen the period for which he can earn royalties on his work, and a leaked paper from a recent Government meeting showed Blair had presented the issue to ministers as a matter of importance. Blair, according to a member of parliament who had attended the meeting, "addressed concerns" about laws "whereby Cliff Richard and the ROLLING STONES only receive 50 years' protection compared with 70 years in the rest of Europe."