Former UK leader loses out on key role in transitional authority after objections from Arab and Muslim nations
Tony Blair will not occupy a key position on Donald Trump’s Gaza “peace council” after Arab and Muslim nations were reported to have objected to the involvement of the former UK prime minister.
According to the Financial Times (FT), Blair has been quietly dropped from consideration for Trump’s “board of peace”, which Trump has said he would chair himself.
It had previously been reported widely that Blair had been canvassing behind the scenes for a prominent role in Gaza’s interim administration, amid leaks of a plan drawn up in part by his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) with Trump’s son-in-law and informal envoy Jared Kushner.
While Blair’s backers had pointed to his role in ending decades of violence in Northern Ireland, critics had pointed to his lacklustre record of achievements while serving as the representative of the so-called Quartet – the UN, EU, US and Russia – to help mediate Middle East peace.
