Blair quits as Middle East peace envoy af ter 8 years
TONY Blair quit as Middle East peace envoy last night following years of criticism about his controversial business interests.
After eight years in the role, the former prime minister said he will step down next month.
The move follows concerns about the potential conflicts of interest between Mr Blair’s role in peace negotiations in the Middle East and his business activities.
The former Labour leader, reputed to be worth tens of millions, advises a number of foreign governments, many with unpalatable human rights records. His clients include PetroSaudi, an oil firm with links to the ruling Saudi royal family, the bank JP Morgan, and Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi wealth fund.
In addition, Mr Blair’s involvement in the Iraq War has made him unpopular in large swathes of the Middle East, while others say he is too close to Israel. Critics point out that peace between Israel and Palestine is as far away as ever, and there is civil war in Syria and the incursion of Islamic State into Iraq. A US-led push to revive the Middle East peace process collapsed last year.
In July, a group of former British ambassadors called for Mr Blair to be removed from his role over the possible clash between his business interests and attempts to ‘absolve himself’ of responsibility for the Iraq crisis.
The letter said his achievements as envoy had been negligible and he was guilty of seeking to please the Israelis.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said last night: ‘It is long overdue that he has decided to step down. Somebody else needs to be given a chance with a much improved mandate than Mr Blair had when he accepted the role.
‘There were perceived conflicts of interest – and increasingly senior Palestinian politicians … did not have the confidence that Tony Blair was pushing the envelope to find peace … Although many people might say, “good riddance to Tony Blair”, the overall issue is that we lack a viable, workable and effective process to end the conflict.’
Mr Blair has represented the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators – the UN, the EU, Russia and the US – since he left Downing Street in 2007. A source said he has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to confirm his decision, and will ‘remain active on the issues and in the region’. He is ‘fully committed to assisting the international community in its work with Israel and the Palestinians to bring about progress on the two-state solution,’ the source said.
The ex-premier is understood to feel the post was ‘limited’ to supporting Palestinians on economic development and strengthening institutions. Mr Blair was convinced an ‘entirely new approach’ was needed.
The source added: ‘He will concentrate on strengthening relations between Israel and the wider Arab world, drawing on his considerable experience and the relationships he has built in the region.’
Two months ago the Financial Times reported Mr Blair was negotiating to ‘recast’ his role but stay involved in the peace process. He met John Kerry, US secretary of state, and Federica Mogherini, EU foreign policy chief, earlier this year to discuss the issue.
In February it emerged Mr Blair is paid to advise Serbia’s prime minister. His consultancy firm sealed a contract for a ‘delivery unit’ paid for by the United Arab Emirates.
Critics said this undermined his envoy role, because links between Serbia, UAE capital Abu Dhabi and a controversial Palestinian exile, Mohammed Dahlan, are likely to make the deal unpopular with West Bank officials.
‘It is long overdue’