Blair's conversion

I struggled to come up with a title that excluded the words "Bears" and "Woods", as this entire subject is ripe for abuse, mocking and cynical comment.

And quite right too, as our ex-PM has repeatedly cast himself as one of the most overtly religious leaders we have ever had, whilst obviously totally and utterly unclear about what he actually believed in. As Catholic commentators are noting, his voting record and political stance is close to anathema to the Catholic faith on issue such as abortion, civil partnerships and the war in Iraq.

Yet he is welcomed with open arms, as he is a 'big scalp' for the Church.

The history of mixing religion and politics - or more accurately the attempts by a religion to create a theocracy - are littered with the dead and mutilated, be it in the odious and extremist Saudi Arabia, the role of Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq, Ahmed Yassin and Hamas, or even the agnosticism of Stalin.

All of which begs the question of how the St Tony can perform his job as UN Envoy to the Middle East when he seems unable to understand his own religious faith, whilst trying to defuse a running sore that is all about religion.

For those who weren't paying attention, he was appointed to the role on 27 June, just after stepping down, and - as far as I can tell - has yet to travel to the Middle East or meet with the leaders of any of the countries/states/nations/slums that make up the disputed areas.

According to the Independent, his current solution is to encourage more tourists to visit the Palestinian territories as if this will somehow solve all the problems in the region.

Tourists usually have to find a good reason to visit somewhere, and four-hour security checks to get from A to B, the lack of an international airport, the risk from suicide bombing or Israeli retaliation, the absence of good hotels, and the real risk of kidnapping being shipped to Iraq and ending up as a blurred mobile-phone filmed beheading on al-Jazerri TV make this not a high priority destination.

I'll think about going when Thomas Cook do trips; not SAS rescue squads.

Anyway, St Tony clearly is out of his depth, has little or no interest in the region, and is angling for another lucrative offer.

He managed a speaking tour of China for the modest fee of £250,000, so what has he done for peace on earth?

This is where it gets farcical.

He went to Saudi Arabia to talk to King Abdullah to talk about the security of the Two Mosques, which as far as I am aware, are not anywhere near the trouble spots he is supposed to be fixing. But what was he doing and why? Arab News lets the cat out of the bag.

“We feel the need to keep the pressure to get action and to get the changes we need to make the peace process work,” said Blair, speaking during a reception hosted by the Riyadh branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), which was inaugurated here amid great fanfare.

The London-based RAeS, which is the world’s only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community, has set up a branch in Riyadh to locally support the society’s projects. [...]

This is Blair’s third visit to Saudi Arabia in the last few months, since he became the International Quartet’s envoy to the Middle East.

Yes, he was off to Saudi to give the after sales service to the Al-Yamamah jets deal, and to persuade the Saudis to buy more weapons they don't need and to export their vicious brand of fundamentalism to a volatile area. That alone should disqualify him from his UN role, but this is compounded by his greed - earning £500,000 to £1,000,000 per month from his speeches around the world, such as the one to the British Aerospace fan club detailed above.

Still, it is slightly better than having him here and having to listen to his sanctimonious and trite drivel.