Tony Blair belongs in The Hague to answer for the crime of waging aggressive war against Iraq in 2003 and afterwards.

He certainly does not belong on any “peace board” to be established under United Nations authority to govern Gaza.

Even Donald Trump has apparently got the message. The Iraq aggression, followed by a ludicrous stint as “Middle East peace envoy” after leaving Downing Street, during which Blair did nothing whatsoever to advance justice for the Palestinian people, have it seems sunk his chances of serving on the new body.

He will still doubtless try to leverage his connections with the Trump family into some neo-colonial role in relation to Gaza.

But opinion in the Arab world is clear – no Blair wanted here. If he were gifted any sense of shame, he should follow his lifelong associate Lord Peter Mandelson in abandoning public life, giving thanks that he is not in a prison cell.