By Daniel Martin

The former Labour leader has been the envoy for the Middle East Quartet peace negotiators – the UN, the EU, Russia and the US – since he quit as Prime Minister in 2007.

But the Financial Times said he was planning to ‘step back’ from the job, in a move which could be announced later this week.

He is apparently embarking on negotiations to ‘recast’ his role while remaining involved in the peace process.

It is understood that the former Prime Minister has met John Kerry, the US secretary of state, and Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, to discuss a possible job change.

The move follows months of concerns about potential conflicts of interest between Mr Blair’s role in peace negotiations in the Middle East and his business pursuits. Sources told the FT that Mr Blair has realised that his peace role is no longer tenable.

The move comes amid mounting unease in the US and EU over his poor relations with senior Palestinian Authority figures and sprawling business interests.

Senior diplomats told the paper Mr Blair was being eased out of the position. ‘It is long overdue,’ said one who had been briefed on the discussions. ‘He has been ineffective in this job. He has no credibility in this part of the world.’

Another person close to the Obama administration said: ‘Tony Blair is neither an asset nor a liability, but his current role is no longer viable.’ Mr Blair does not disclose any of his clients, but they have included countries such as Peru, Colombia, Kuwait, Vietnam and Kazakhstan.

His corporate roster has featured PetroSaudi, an oil company with links to the Saudi royal family, finance firm JPMorgan and Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi wealth fund.

A senior western official familiar with the Quartet denied there had been any ‘effort to push Blair out of his current role’. It is understood that any decision would need to be taken by consensus.

Mr Blair advises a number of foreign governments, many of which have unpalatable human rights records.

Last year, a group of former British ambassadors joined a campaign calling for the ex-Prime Minister to be removed from his role as Middle East envoy, raising objections to the possible clash with his business interests and a attempts to ‘absolve himself’ of responsibility for the Iraq crisis.

Their letter, written last July, said the former Prime Minister’s achievements as Middle East envoy have been negligible and he was guilty of seeking to please the Israelis.

At the time, a spokesman for Mr Blair said: ‘These are all people viscerally opposed to Tony Blair with absolutely no credibility in relation to him whatsoever.

‘He believes passionately in the two-state solution but believes that can only be achieved by a negotiation with Israel.’

Critics also point out that peace between Israel and Palestine is as far away as ever – and that the situation in Iraq and Syria is only getting worse.

A US-led push to revive the Middle East peace process collapsed last year. Mr Kerry has expressed a wish that whatever government is brought to power in the Israeli elections this week will ‘meet the hope for peace’. There was no response from Mr Blair’s office last night.

Only last month it emerged that Mr Blair is being paid to advise the Serbian prime minister. His private consultancy firm has sealed a contract to set up a ‘delivery unit’ paid for by the United Arab Emirates.

His critics highlighted links between Abu Dhabi – the UAE’s capital – and a controversial Palestinian exile, Mohammed Dahlan, who has made no secret of his desire to become the next Palestinian leader.

Abu Dhabi is allegedly bankrolling his campaign to unseat the current president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Source: Mail Online