Revealed: Tony Blair’s Institute lobbied EU to work with Trump’s Board of Peace in Gaza

TBI pushed bloc on US plan for Palestine but internal disquiet on “taboo topic” Gaza grows

By Lucas Amin and May Bulman

The Tony Blair Institute privately pressed a top European Union official working on the rebuilding of Gaza to work with Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

The board, whose “executive” members include Blair, Trump’s son-in-law, and a billionaire real estate mogul, is set to hold its first meeting in Washington, DC this week to discuss the future of the devastated Gaza Strip.

There are no Palestinians on the executive committee of the Board of Peace. The only representation for the people living in Gaza, comes in a technocratic sub-committee.

Ahead of its inaugural meeting, documents obtained by investigative outlet Follow the Money and shared with Democracy for Sale and Lighthouse Reports reveal that Blair’s institute encouraged the EU to work with Trump’s much-derided peace board.

During a video meeting in December with Henrike Trautman, Europe’s principal adviser on the reconstruction of Gaza, a representative from TBI said that the think tank was “convinced the EU will have a role at the BoP”.

TBI’s rep, whose name is redacted from the document, also underlined the “US willingness to work with the EU” and said that the US wants a two-state solution “even if it is not much visible in reports and meetings”.

The EU is a major stakeholder in Gaza. The bloc is the largest international donor to Palestine and Israel’s biggest trading partner.

But despite supplying aid to millions amidst what is widely agreed to be a genocide, the EU has struggled to assert itself politically on Gaza.

A readout of the “key messages” from the meeting, first reported by Follow the Money’s Brussels Bureau newsletter, notes “TBI interest in working with EU on reforms” and states that the “EU should not be shy and has a prominent role to play in Gaza/Israel-Palestine.”

It also reveals that TBI requested a personal meeting between Blair himself and the EU commissioner in charge of Israel, Palestine and the wider middle east region, Dubravka Šuica, at Davos. The meeting did not happen, we understand.

Trump’s Board of Peace, whose proposed members include Vladimir Putin, Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko and chainsaw wielding Javier Milei of Argentina, has been heavily criticised.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, a real estate billionaire turned US special envoy to the Middle East, sit on the board alongside Blair and other Trump advisers. Permanent membership is available in exchange for $1 billion in “cash funds”, while Trump holds an absolute veto over all decisions and can personally issue resolutions.

“It’s Tony’s initiative”

TBI’s intervention with the EU on Gaza reflects the influence of Blair on world affairs almost two decades after he resigned as Prime Minister. But within his institute there is growing disquiet over its Palestine work.

A staffer inside TBI speaking on condition of anonymity told us that Gaza is a “taboo topic”. When the subject has been raised internally, “the response is usually that it’s Tony’s initiative and we can’t know anything about it because the conversations are so high-level. You just have to trust Tony.”

“There are plenty of staff who aren’t happy about this. Questions have been asked but don’t get answered. There’s also a fear that if you share your opinion on this there might be consequences.”

Concerns about TBI’s Gaza work first emerged last year in the wake of reports in the Financial Times that the think tank had worked on proposals for a “Trump Riviera” and an “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone” in the war-torn Strip.

TBI has been heavily funded by billionaire Larry Ellison, a close personal friend of Benjamin Netanyahu. Last year, Democracy for Sale and Lighthouse Reports revealed how TBI has changed since Ellison, the founder of the tech company Oracle, gave £250 million to the institute.

Last month, we revealed that TBI had begun developing its own AI tools that it hopes to sell to governments in what insiders describe as a bid to “rival Palantir”.

Commenting on today’s story, a TBI spokesperson said: “Your description of the conversation is inaccurate and does not reflect the document. TBI did not, and does not, lobby and the meeting was a conversation about the situation in Gaza, President Trump’s peace plan which had been endorsed by a UNSC resolution, and TBI’s work to support the new government in Gaza.”

The spokesperson added: “We regularly engage with our staff on the work we do on Gaza. The Institute’s work in helping to bring an end to the conflict and to try and rebuild a Gaza for Gazans is work we are proud of.”

Last week TBI called on the UK government to ditch its clean power targets, which it said were no longer fit for purpose. Critics pointed out that TBI clients include petrostates such as Saudi Arabia.