It’s 12 weeks since he turned his back on No 10. matt ford and harry underwood report |
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In London, Tony Blair's Connaught Square neighbours, after a recent incident involving a remote-controlled robot and a suspect car, have demanded bomb-proof windows to allay their security fears. In Sedgefield, his recently departed constituency, the ex-Prime Minister has set aside his Victorian house as the headquarters for a foundation to encourage sport among children in the north-east.
It is in Jerusalem, however, that Blair is spending most of his time. As he settles into his new, unpaid role promoting peace in the Middle East, he has taken out a year-long lease over the entire fourth floor of the luxurious American Colony hotel. The UN development programme will reportedly finance the $1m cost of running this office.
Appointed to the grand-sounding role of Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Blair now represents the interests of the UN, the
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Blair began
his work in Jerusalem meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres and Middle Eastern leaders
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EU, the US and Russia (who initially resisted his appointment) in the turbulent region.
The last man in the post, former World Bank president James Wolfensohn, resigned in frustration, saying he was constantly undermined by the US, and told an Israeli newspaper he was worried that Blair's mandate was "exactly the same as mine". Israel's recent refusal to allow Blair to meet Raji Sourani, a leading human rights activist from the Gaza Strip, has provided the first sign of the troubles ahead.
Blair's work has begun, by all accounts, quietly. At the end of July, after an initial meeting in Lisbon, he spent two days in Jerusalem and the West Bank, meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Never shy of a slogan or two, he chose to speak of a "moment of opportunity" and a "sense of possibility".
When duties resumed in early September, an uncharacteristically silent Blair made a longer visit to the region. Explicitly, his mandate is to lay the foundations for a  |
People - Here, There and Everywhere
Tony Blair retires
