Not content with running the country for the best part of a decade, Tony Blair has expressed interest in attempting to save the world when he steps down from office later this year.
The outgoing Prime Minister is keen to take on climate change through securing global agreements to cut CO2 emissions.
As reported by The Times this morning, Blair said: “I’d certainly like to carry on working on it [climate change] after I leave office.”
Whether Blair will follow former US Vice President Al Gore’s lead as a global spokesperson on climate change remains to be seen. However, his track record is promising, having put the issue at the top of the agenda at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles.
Speaking on BBC1’s Sunday AM programme, Blair, 53, said: “Fortunately, or unfortunately, I will leave office early enough to do something more with my life. I want to have something that’s got a real purpose to it, and climate change is certainly something that I am interested in.”
Blair also told the BBC that the world was very close to a new climate change deal, which would be implemented when the Kyoto Treaty expires in 2012. He went on to add that the new agreement would be constructed to include America, China and India.
In other parliamentary news, Labour MP for Nottingham South Alan Simpson will stand down at the next election to purse more effective campaigns outside Westminster politics.
As an outspoken critic of the Blair leadership, the 58 year-old MP said Parliament’s failure to tackle global warming was a major factor in his decision to quit the back benches.
