Blair coming to Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Former British prime minister Tony Blair is visiting Manila on March 23 for a speaking engagement.

This was announced Wednesday night by British Ambassador Peter Beckingham during a dinner he hosted at his residence for Scott Wightman, head of the Asia Pacific Directorate of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Blair will be in Manila for a day. He will discuss “the leader as negotiator” during his visit, which was organized by the Ateneo de Manila University together with De La Salle, with PLDT as a key sponsor.

As British prime minister, Blair forged a peace agreement in Northern Ireland after several decades of armed conflict. But he was criticized at home for supporting the US-led invasion of Iraq and the Middle East policy of then US President George W. Bush.

Blair, named special envoy to the Middle East by his successor Gordon Brown, recently won the 697,000 euro ($1 million) Dan David Prize for “his exceptional leadership and steadfast determination in helping to engineer agreements and forge lasting solutions to areas in conflict.”

The Dan David Foundation is based in Tel Aviv University in Israel’s capital.

Blair was the keynote speaker at the recent National Prayer Breakfast in Washington where US President Barack Obama was a guest speaker.

President Arroyo had flown to Washington from Bahrain to attend the prayer breakfast on short notice, but her presence apparently went unnoticed by both Obama and Blair. Critics lambasted her for making the trip.

Blair never visited the Philippines during his term as prime minister.