Tony Blair, the former UK Prime Minister has resigned from his position as the Middle East peace envoy. He served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as the Quartet’s peace envoy to the Middle east from 2007.
Sources have revealed that although he will no longer represent the Quartet, he plans to “remain active on the issues” as reported by the Telegraph.
Tony Blair’s consultancy work and his role as peace envoy to the Middle East have in the past been questioned, due to potential conflicts of interests.
He established Tony Blair Associates to “allow him to provide, in partnership with others, strategic advice on a commercial and pro bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform.”
His role as peace envoy represented the UN, US, Europe and Russia in Middle East peace talks but the post has recently been sidelined.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding said: “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 to whom I have spoken did not have the confidence that Tony Blair was pushing the envelope to find peace or a way forward.” “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.”
