Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 72, will play a key role in the transitional body that will govern the post-war Gaza Strip, as per U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point “Peace Plan”. Mr. Trump’s plan draws heavily from a proposal that Mr. Blair himself had developed through his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

In Mr. Blair’s version of the plan, an international body, the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA), would govern the Gaza Strip for a certain number of years. In Mr. Trump’s proposal, Article 9 states that Gaza would be “governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee”. This Palestinian committee, however, will report to “a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace”, which will be headed and chaired by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

Also read | Trump’s Gaza peace plan: What’s in the 20-point peace proposal?

The governance structure comprising a transitional Palestinian committee and the Board of Peace is a rehash of Mr. Blair’s GITA model. Both versions envisage an administrative hierarchy with a wealthy white man (Mr. Blair/Mr. Trump) from the West helming an apex body that would “exercise supreme strategic and political authority”. Palestinian representation comes at the bottom of the managerial ladder. Its remit is restricted to the nitty-gritty of civic governance such as policing, municipal services, and vaccination programmes.

Mr. Trump’s plan also makes it clear that the “framework and funding” for the redevelopment of Gaza will be managed by the Board of Peace. As per leaked excerpts of Mr. Blair’s proposal, this Board would consist of seven to 10 members, with sizeable representation to billionaire investors, alongside Arab/Muslim faces to bestow a semblance of legitimacy.

A major criticism levelled against Mr. Trump’s Gaza plan is that Palestinians were not consulted, which is both true and unsurprising, given its provenance in Mr. Blair’s think tank. However, what has sparked outrage is the return of Mr. Blair as a “Governor” figure. British politician George Galloway posted on social media, “Once it was clear that Satan was fully occupied elsewhere, Tony Blair was the obvious choice to govern Gaza for Trump and Netanyahu.” British and American broadcaster Mehdi Hasan wrote, “Putting Tony Blair in charge of any kind of peace effort in the Middle East [West Asia] is like making the arsonist the head fire-fighter; the burglar the chief detective.” What makes Mr. Blair such a polarising figure, and why is he the chosen one to run Gaza?

Labour leader

Mr. Blair became leader of the Labour Party in 1994 following the untimely death of his predecessor, John Smith. Interestingly, he did so despite the fact that party colleague and rival Gordon Brown was seen as Smith’s natural successor. A gifted politician, Mr. Blair broke with traditional Labour politics — democratic socialism riding on support from trade unions — by following a “third way” that won over the middle classes. Named “New Labour” by analysts, he adopted a centrist, pro-market stance on the economic front, and in a sharp departure from the non-interventionism of “old Labour”, embraced an ‘interventionist’ foreign policy. The shift worked brilliantly. Mr. Blair led Labour to victory in three consecutive parliamentary elections. He became the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister in British history, holding office from 1997 to 2007. Worsening relations with Mr. Brown, however, forced him to resign in June 2007.

As Prime Minister, Mr. Blair’s biggest achievement was brokering the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of brutal sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. It was a triumph that would become his calling card — and a rather lucrative one — as an expert in conflict resolution. He also put into action the “Blair Doctrine” of “humanitarian interventionism” by sending British troops to Kosovo in 1999 and to Sierra Leone, a former British colony, in 2000. He believed that “the international community” had a right to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign nations in order to stop human rights abuses.

Ironically, his penchant for interventionism, which won him plaudits in the context of Kosovo and Sierra Leone, would, with his cheerleading of the 2003 Iraq war, lead to his downfall and eventual status as a political pariah. The Chilcot Inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war delivered a searing indictment of Mr. Blair’s role as Prime Minister, charging him with deceiving the British people and dragging Britain into an unnecessary, illegal war on false pretexts (there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq). It also noted that Mr. Blair sent British troops to a country that posed no threats to British interests, in a move that cost the lives of 179 British citizens, besides thousands of Iraqi lives, displacing millions of Iraqis, and creating long-term instability in the region. It led many, including members of his own party, to brand him a “war criminal”.

Immediately after resigning as PM, Mr. Blair was made the “Middle East Envoy” of the Quartet — the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia. On paper, his mandate was to help build Palestinian institutions and liaise with all the stakeholders for economic development. But Mr. Blair, a trusted friend of Israel, made no visible effort to either halt the expansion of Israeli settlements or push for a two-state settlement. He failed to win the trust or respect of the Palestinians. Though he flopped as a peacemaker, his personal wealth grew rapidly, through paid consultancies with governments in the region, speaking engagements, and operating as an intermediary for billionaire businessmen.

Larry Ellison, the Zionist billionaire who is in talks to buy TikTok, is a donor to the Tony Blair Institute. Mr. Blair also became an adviser to JP Morgan Chase, a bank that, as reported by journalist Jonathan Cook, benefited massively from at least one major deal brokered by Mr. Blair in his capacity as West Asia envoy. According to Mr. Cook, Mr. Blair got Israel to open up West Bank’s airwaves for a Palestinian cellphone company. But the price negotiated by Mr. Blair is quite revealing: the Palestinians had to stop raising the issue of Israeli war crimes at the UN.

This is the “experience of the region” that Mr. Blair brings to his latest job. It is evident that this experience is viewed favourably by his most important backers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes), and Mr. Trump, who continues to aid and abet the genocide in Gaza. More than a century after one British politician inaugurated a settler colonial project in Palestine with the Balfour Declaration, Palestinians in Gaza remain mute witnesses as their fate, and their future, is delivered into the hands of another, their new viceroy.

Published – October 05, 2025 01:30 am IST

London:

Britain’s former deputy prime minister John Prescott, who served under Tony Blair and with him helped transform the country’s Labour party, has died aged 86, his family said on Thursday.

“We are deeply saddened to inform you that our beloved husband, father and grandfather, John Prescott, passed away yesterday (Wednesday) at the age of 86,” a statement read.

Blair, the privately educated lawyer who appointed working-class Prescott to help appease the Labour left as he moved the party to the centre ground, said he was “devastated” at Prescott’s death.

“There was no one quite like him in British politics,” he told BBC radio.

Keir Starmer, who became Labour’s first prime minister since 2010 after a landslide general election win in July, called Prescott “a true giant of the Labour movement”.

“He was a staunch defender of working people and a proud trade unionist. During a decade as deputy prime minister, he was one of the key architects of a Labour government that transformed the lives of millions of people across the nation,” he added.

“So much of John’s work set the path for those of us fortunate enough to follow. From leading climate negotiations to fighting regional inequality, his legacy will live on well beyond his lifetime.”

Prescott, a former merchant seaman and trade union activist who served as a member of parliament for Hull in northern England for four decades, died “peacefully” at a care home, his wife Pauline, and two sons said.

“He did so surrounded by the love of his family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery,” they added.

Prescott, who was appointed to the House of Lords, suffered a stroke in 2019 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s. He stopped being a member of the upper chamber of parliament in July because of his health problems.

Plain-speaking, Prescott served for 10 years as Blair’s deputy following Labour’s landslide 1997 general election win. During a campaign stop in north Wales he punched a protester who threw an egg at him.

But he also acted as a mediator between Blair and his finance minister Gordon Brown, who also helmed the transformation of Labour in the 1990s and who had designs on power.

Prescott’s brief included the environment and transport, as well as leading negotiations for Britain for the international Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Blair said in a 2007 letter to Prescott that he saw his role as “smoothing out colleagues and sorting out colleagues and trouble-shooting”.

“The completely unique Prescott blend of charm and brutality… got you through the decade, kept the government together and above all, gave me a lot of fun. I was lucky to have you as my deputy,” he told him.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A member of the Labour Party sits outside a polling station near Russell Square, central London London, during the local elections, on May 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Britain’s governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years.

Read Editorial: Two states: On the Palestine question and the U.K. 

Labour won control of councils in England it hasn’t held for decades and was successful in a special by-election for Parliament. Its only negative has been in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Oldham in northwest England, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of leader Keir Starmer ‘s strongly pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.

Perhaps of most importance in the context of the looming general election, Labour won Blackpool South, a long-time Labour seat in the northwest of England that went Conservative in the last general election in 2019, when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a big victory. In the contest, triggered by the resignation of a Conservative lawmaker following a lobbying scandal, Labour’s Chris Webb secured 10,825 votes, 7,607 more than his second-placed Conservative opponent.

“This seismic win in Blackpool South is the most important result today,” Starmer said. “This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change.”

Thursday’s elections were important in themselves, with voters deciding who will run many aspects of their daily lives, such as garbage collection, road maintenance and local crime prevention, in the coming years. But with a general election looming, they will be viewed through a national prism.

Starmer next Labour PM?

The results so far provide more evidence that Labour is likely to form the next government — and by quite a margin — and that Mr. Starmer will become Prime Minister.

As of early Friday, with barely a quarter of the 2,661 seats up for grabs counted, the Conservatives were down 115 while Labour was up 60. Labour has won in areas, which voted heavily for Britain’s departure from the European Union and where it was crushed by Johnson, such as Hartlepool in the northeast of England, and Thurrock in southeast England. It also seized control of Rushmoor, a leafy and military-heavy council in the south of England where it has never been in power.

John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said the results so far indicate that the Conservatives are losing around half of the seats they are trying to defend.

“We are probably looking at certainly one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performances in local government elections for the last 40 years,” he told BBC radio.

The results will roll in through Saturday. Mr. Sunak hopes he can point to successes, notably in several key mayoral races, to douse talk that the Conservative Party will change its leader again before the United Kingdom’s main election, which could take place as soon as next month.

Key to his survival could be the results of mayoral elections in Tees Valley in the northeast of England and in the West Midlands. The former is due Friday midday and the latter on Saturday. Should Conservative mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen hold on, he may win some respite from restive lawmakers in his party. Should both lose, he may face trouble. Labour’s Sadiq Khan is expected to remain mayor of London when results are announced on Saturday..

Mr. Sunak could preempt any challenge by threatening to call a general election that has to take place before January 2025. He has the power to decide on the date and has indicated that it will be in the second half of 2024.

Mr. Sunak became Prime Minister in October 2022 after the short-lived tenure of his predecessor, Liz Truss, who left office after 49 days following a budget of unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and sent borrowing costs for homeowners surging.

Her chaotic — and traumatic — leadership compounded the Conservatives’ difficulties following the circus surrounding her predecessor Johnson, who was forced to quit after being adjudged to have lied to Parliament over lockdown breaches at his offices in Downing Street.

Nothing Mr. Sunak has tried to do appears to have shifted the political dial, with Labour consistently 20 percentage points ahead in opinion polls, which would lead, if translated into a general election, to a landslide victory on a par with that achieved by Tony Blair in 1997.

Jacob Rothschild of the renowned Rothschild banking dynasty, died at 87, his family said on Feb. 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Financier and philanthropist Jacob Rothschild, of the renowned Rothschild banking dynasty, has died at 87, his family said on February 26.

Rothschild began his career in the family bank, NM Rothschild & Sons, in 1963, before breaking away to start businesses and charitable organizations. His family paid tribute to him in a statement.

“Our father Jacob was a towering presence in many people’s lives, a superbly accomplished financier, a champion of the arts and culture, a devoted public servant, a passionate supporter of charitable causes in Israel and Jewish culture, a keen environmentalist and much-loved friend, father and grandfather,” his family said.

“He will be buried in accordance with Jewish custom in a small family ceremony and there will be a memorial at a later date to celebrate his life,” they added, without providing any more details.

The Rothschild family has an estimated fortune of about 825 million pounds ($1 billion), according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich List. It reportedly gives away millions of pounds to Jewish causes, education and art.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was among the political and cultural leaders who paid tribute to Rothschild. Mr. Blair described him as a “towering figure in Britain’s Jewish community” and praised his work advancing peace in the Middle East.

Born in Berkshire, west of London, Rothschild was educated at Eton College and studied history at Christ Church College, Oxford University.

After leaving the Rothschild Bank, he took control of Rothschild Investment Trust, now RIT Capital Partners. He was chairman of the firm, one of the largest investment trusts on the London Stock Exchange, until 2019.

He also co-founded the then J. Rothschild Assurance Group, now St James’s Place, with Mark Weinberg in 1980, and served as deputy chairman at what was then BSkyB Television, among other roles.

In the cultural sector he was chairman of the board of trustees at London’s National Gallery and chair of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Rothschild Foundation, the charity which manages the family’s former home, the country house Waddesdon Manor, said Jacob Rothschild’s daughter Hannah would succeed him as its chair.

Jacob Rothschild was married for more than 50 years to Serena, who died in 2019. They have four children, Hannah, Beth, Emily and Nat, and many grandchildren.