Tony Blair to step down as Middle East envoy next month

Tony Blair will step down as Middle East envoy next month, bringing to an end a controversial eight-year role that made him a fixture of Middle Eastern diplomacy.

The former British prime minister took the position as an envoy for the quartet of Middle East peace negotiators — made up of the US, EU, UN and Russia — immediately after he left Downing Street in 2007. But as the FT reported in March, Mr Blair recognised a frontline role was no longer tenable.

The peace process Mr Blair was charged with advancing through economic development of the Palestinian territories has failed to progress. Mr Blair’s poor relations with senior Palestinian Authority figures and his sprawling business interests have provoked unease in Washington and Brussels.

People close to Mr Blair said on Wednesday he had written to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon “to formally confirm that he will relinquish his role when he has fulfilled his outstanding commitments as quartet representative next month”.

They said that he believed he could best support a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians by working with key regional players, as well as international powers, without a formal role.

“He will therefore remain active on the issues and in the region,” said a person close to him.

Mr Blair’s decision to step aside ends an arrangement in which he was involved in Middle East diplomacy while conducting private business with some regional governments that he also deals with through the quartet.

Timeline: A controversial envoy

Tony Blair was appointed as representative of the quartet of peace negotiators, an informal group including the US, EU, Russia and UN in 2007

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John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has been a supporter of Mr Blair. But other senior figures in Washington have raised concerns over his multiple charitable, diplomatic and commercial roles.

Tony Blair Associates, his consultancy business, has advised countries including Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Kuwait and Peru while his corporate clients have included JPMorgan, the Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala and PetroSaudi, an oil group linked to the Saudi royals.

Senior diplomats told the FT that Mr Blair was being eased out of the position — but people close to him denied this.

“He has been ineffective in this job. He has no credibility in this part of the world,” one diplomat said.

Mr Blair’s job’s remit was limited to working on issues affecting governance, economic development, and movement and access in the Palestinian territories. This reduced him to pleading on relatively minor economic and logistical issues with officials in Israel — the occupying power in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem and the stronger party in the conflict — rather than using his clout as a former statesman to achieve more ambitious goals.

The Palestinians saw the “economic peace” he campaigned for as a ploy by Israel to avoid a negotiated political solution, not least at a time when many in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, are openly rejecting the notion of a Palestinian state.

“For us he was a persona non grata for a while; he hasn’t been assuming his responsibility for a long time, so him being in the position or not is almost the same,” a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organisation told the FT.

“But we look toward a future when institutions like the quartet will assume responsibility toward the Palestinians,” the official added. “Anyone responsible for the Quartet should understand that there is responsibility [involved] and this is not a symbolic or honorary job.”

Mr Blair is thought to have held talks in recent months to remain part of the peace process. He had discussed a possible change with Mr Kerry. The former prime minister also spoke to Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, who is pushing for a revamp of the quartet and for Europe to take a more robust stance on Israel’s conduct.