Top Tony Blair aide becomes UK Palestine envoy

LONDON — The British government on Monday appointed a former senior official under Tony Blair’s administration as its new envoy to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Michael Barber — who served under former PM Blair as head of his Downing Street delivery unit two decades ago — will become the U.K’s envoy on Palestinian Authority Governance.

A No. 10 Downing Street statement said Monday that Barber will support the Palestinian Authority — the Fatah government which only partially controls the Israeli-occupied West Bank — as it implements its “vital reform agenda to strengthen its delivery capacity and improve service provision.”

Britain has previously sanctioned a number of Israelis responsible for settler violence on Palestinians in the West Bank, and has called for a cease-fire in Gaza amid Israel’s continued bombardment of the territory in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.

Barber already works for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer as an unpaid advisor on “effective delivery,” a gig he will continue to carry out alongside the envoy position. Barber has held advisory roles under the Conservatives too, and carried out reviews on government efficiency for prime ministers including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

Starmer announced the appointment amid a trip to the Middle East, where the PM met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Monday.

Initially planned as a way to drum up trade and investment, Starmer’s visit has coincided with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.