LONDON, May 27 (UPI) -- Tony Blair announced Wednesday he will leave his role as a Middle East envoy, sending his resignation to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
In 2007, immediately after leaving his position as British Prime Minister, Blair joined the Quartet, a diplomatic bloc seeking peace in the Middle East, in particular between Israel and Palestine, comprised of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. Its actions made the group a code word for sluggish, uninspired diplomacy.