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Tony Blair resigns as Middle East peace envoy

The former British Prime Minister has written to the United Nation’s secretary general Ban Ki-moon to confirm his resignation as Middle East peace envoy.

Blair took the position almost immediately after leaving Downing Street in 2007 and has held it for nearly eight years. Blair’s role was as a special representative for the Quartet, which represents the UN, US, EU and Russia in Middle East peace talks.

Blair’s performance in the role had been criticised and his resignation comes at a time when hopes of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are at an all time low.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding described Blair’s resignation as “long overdue”, he added: "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."

Although he had stepped from a formal role, Blair has said that he will continue to offer his “best support” to help strengthen relations between Israel and the wider Arab world.

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