London, England: June 27, 2007 - Tony Blair will become an envoy for Mideast peace, U.S. officials said Tuesday, Blair's last full day as Britain's prime minister.

Blair will represent the Mideast Quartet -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

An official announcement is expected Wednesday, U.S. State Department officials and Quartet diplomats said.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Blair's partner in steering the Northern Ireland peace process for the past decade, told Irish state radio on Wednesday that Blair had told him he had already agreed to the role, The Associated Press reported.

"I spoke to him about this on Friday night. I can tell you that's exactly what he's going to do," said Ahern.

"He believes if you have hands-on, persistent engagement then you can have real progress. He is going to put a large amount of his personal time into this after today."

Both Israeli and Palestinian officials have expressed interest in having Blair in the role, senior officials said.

Assistant Secretary David Welch, the State Department's top envoy for the Middle East, discussed the idea with Blair in London last week.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey declined to confirm the Blair appointment but said the Quartet discussed the issue at a meeting in Jerusalem Tuesday.

"They have talked about the idea that, as we said, about having an envoy, having someone who would be available on behalf of the Quartet to work on a variety of issues," Casey said.

Blair will focus on ways to strengthen Palestinian institutions for a future Palestinian state. The political negotiations on final status issues would be left to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior officials said.

One source said Russia had some concerns about appointing Blair, but Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved Blair's selection.

Full Story: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/27/blair.envoy/