Tony Blair is preparing to step back from his role as a Middle East peace envoy as the US and Europe review policy options before the Zionist entity’s election this week, FT reported.

Tony Blair is preparing to step back from his role as a Middle East peace envoy as the US and Europe review policy options before the Zionist entity’s election this week, FT reported.

After nearly eight years as an envoy for the Quartet of Middle East "peace" negotiators, the former British prime minister has recognized that a frontline role is no longer tenable, according to several insiders. Blair’s move comes amid deep unease in parts of Washington and Brussels over his poor relations with senior Palestinian Authority figures and sprawling business interests.

The former UK premier is embarking on delicate talks to recast his Middle East role but is determined to remain part of the "peace" process. Blair met John Kerry, US secretary of state, on Saturday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss a possible role change. He also spoke to Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, who is pushing for a revamp of the Quartet and for Europe to take a more robust stance on Israel’s conduct.

If Blair does step aside or take an informal position it would end an arrangement that has made him a fixture of Middle East diplomacy while conducting private business with some regional governments that he also deals with through the Quartet, which represents the UN, US, EU and Russia.

No final decisions have been taken but a clarification of Blair’s role could come this week. His office declined to comment.

Although Kerry is a supporter of Blair’s continued involvement, some other senior figures in Washington told the Financial Times they wanted the former prime minister to step aside. Concerns include his multiple charitable, diplomatic and commercial interests. Ms Mogherini, meanwhile, is looking beyond Blair as she recalibrates Europe’s approach and appoints a new EU Middle East envoy.

Brussels stopped funding Blair’s office in 2012 and he was not invited to the last minister-level meeting of the Quartet, which took place in Munich in February and was convened by Ms Mogherini. Officials said the talks were primarily political and unrelated to Blair’s economic mandate.

Some senior diplomats said Blair was being eased out of the position.

“It is long overdue,” said one diplomat briefed on the talks. “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.”

At the behest of the George W Bush administration, Blair was appointed to the Quartet position in 2007, shortly after serving as British prime minister for a decade. His energetic support for the Iraq war had made him a controversial figure among many Palestinians from the outset.

Founded in 2002, the Quartet has largely been sidelined over the past two years from peace process diplomacy while the Obama administration tried to broker talks. Those negotiations fell apart last year.

Blair told friends last week he was seeking to reconfigure his role and had grown weary of being blamed for the Quartet’s shortcomings that were beyond his narrow remit and responsibilities.

His role as Middle East envoy has come under increasing criticism with questions raised about his dual role as super-diplomat and businessman. Blair’s clients have included countries such as Peru, Colombia, Kuwait, Vietnam and Kazakhstan. His corporate roster has included PetroSaudi, an oil company with links to the Saudi royal family, JPMorgan and Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi wealth fund.

A senior western official familiar with the Quartet denied that there had been any “‎effort to push Blair out of his current role”. Any decision would need to be taken by consensus and the Quartet had yet to discuss a remit change at ministerial level.

Kerry and Blair are weighing potential options to give the former prime minister a more political role, which puts to better use his sway in the Gulf, Egypt and 'Israel'. In a sign of his priorities, Blair has also made several trips to Gaza recently, stressing the importance of Palestinian unity.

If a new Israeli government is elected this week led by the centre-left, the Obama administration might try to revive its stalled "peace" talks. However, if Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu returns to power with a rightwing government that appears critical of a two-state solution, there will be growing pressure from the EU and the UN to become more involved.

Palestinians have been scathingly critical of Blair’s modest record as Quartet representative, not least because the role was limited to economic affairs, an issue inextricable from the failed peace process and Israel’s four and a half decade old occupation of Palestinian lands.

European diplomats in Jerusalem say they have been pushing for the representative role to be expanded and redefined. “I’m not seeing that much added value,” a senior diplomat said.