Sir Tony Blair will join Trump's Gaza 'Board of Peace'

Tony Blair will join Donald Trump's Gaza Board of Peace, the White House confirmed on Friday. 

The former UK prime minister is to sit alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner as members of the 'Founding Executive Board'.

Making up the rest of the group, which will be chaired by the US president, are Marc Rowan, the boss of US private equity firm Apollo, the World Bank's president Ajay Banga and Mr Trump's assistant for policy, Robert Gabriel.

The White House said: 'Each Executive Board member will oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza's stabilisation and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation.'

It added that additional members will be announced in the coming weeks.

That means there could be a space for Keir Starmer, with British officials earlier this week confirming that the idea of the Prime Minister joining the board had been floated by members of the US administration.

Alongside the Founding Executive Board, a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) will be created and led by Palestinian official Ali Shaath.

And there will be a wider Gaza Executive Board that includes Sir Tony, Mr Witkoff, Mr Kushner, as well as representatives from Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and the UN.

On Thursday, Mr Trump announced that the Gaza Board of Peace had been formed and members will be announced shortly.

'I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place,' he wrote on Truth Social.

The new body, which is part of the US president's 20-point peace plan, was announced last September.

At the time, the US president said Sir Tony would join the board.

However, his nomination triggered a backlash in a region still reeling from the Iraq war.

There could be further objections to Sir Tony's position now confirmed.

The first phase was to deradicalise Gaza, with the second focused on the territory's redevelopment.

The announcement came as it was reported that the Board of Peace could be broadened out to mediate on other global hotspots such as Ukraine and Venezuela.

US officials are said to have floated the idea while Western and Arab diplomats are reportedly concerned about the body having an expanded remit beyond the Middle East.

The Trump administration viewed the Board of Peace as a potential substitute for the UN... a kind of parallel unofficial body to deal with other conflicts beyond Gaza,' one person briefed on the discussions told the Financial Times.