Blair did offer to help Trump in Middle East, US conf irm
US SECRETARY of State Rex Tillerson has confirmed to the British Government that Tony Blair has offered to help Donald Trump win a Middle East peace deal.
Mr Tillerson gave details of Mr Blair’s involvement after The Mail on Sunday revealed last week he had visited the White House 11 days ago to discuss the issue with the President’s son-inlaw Jared Kushner.
Mr Kushner has been tasked by Mr Trump with achieving the ‘ultimate deal’ – peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
News of Mr Blair’s White House talks came as a surprise to British PM Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Britain’s Ambassador in Washington, Kim Darroch.
American State Department and White House officials revealed that this newspaper’s account was accurate: Mr Blair had offered to help Mr Kushner’s Middle East peace effort – and the Trump administration had ‘taken his approach seriously’.
Shortly after meeting Mr Kushner for three hours in the White House West Wing on March 1, Mr Blair jetted to Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s team. Kushner, 36, has close family ties with Netanyahu.
One official said: ‘The basis of Mr Blair’s approach was that he has years of experience of Middle East politics and in particular has much better Arab contacts than anyone in the White House.’