Blair 'plans to increase influence in Middle East', as calls grow for him to be sacked

Blair is said be be close to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of the country.

A friend told the Financial Times that the pair had "chemistry", and he is believed to be looking for a base in the UAE from to help him act as an intermediary between the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The former Prime Minister's reputation remains controversial in the region, but he has worked with the Kuwaiti prime minister and is advising one of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds.

The news comes as three former British ambassadors have called for him to be sacked as international envoy to the Middle East after his attempts to "absolve himself" of responsibility for the crisis in Iraq.

It has been reported that the three had signed a letter, organised by the makers of Respect MP George Galloway's film The Killing Of Tony Blair, which says the invasion of 2003 led to the rise of "fundamentalist terrorism in a land where none existed previously".

The retired diplomats were led by Sir Richard Dalton, who was ambassador to Iran when Mr Blair was prime minister.

He was said to have been joined by Oliver Miles, who was ambassador to Libya when diplomatic relations were severed in 1984 following the killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, and Christopher Long, a former ambassador to Egypt.

The letter, addressed to the international Quartet on the Middle East - the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union - describes Mr Blair's achievements as international envoy as "negligible".

It adds: "We are also dismayed, however, at Tony Blair's recent attempts to absolve himself of any responsibility for the current crisis by isolating it from the legacy of the Iraq war.

"In order to justify the invasion, Tony Blair misled the British people by claiming that Saddam had links to al Qaeda. 

"In the wake of recent events it is a cruel irony for the people of Iraq that perhaps the invasion's most enduring legacy has been the rise of fundamentalist terrorism in a land where none existed previously.

"We believe that Mr Blair, as a vociferous advocate of the invasion, must accept a degree of responsibility for its consequences."

A spokesman for Mr Blair told the Guardian: "These are all people viscerally opposed to Tony Blair with absolutely no credibility in relation to him whatsoever.

"Their attack is neither surprising nor newsworthy. They include the alliance of hard right and hard left views which he has fought against all his political life."