http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/07/tonyblair.usa?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
Blair to teach at Yale University
Ewen MacAskill in Wa****ngton and Patrick Wintour
guardian.co.uk, Friday March 7 2008
Tony Blair is to take up a senior academic post in the autumn at one of
America's most prestigious universities teaching politics and religion.
Yale confirmed yesterday he is to join the schools of management and
divinity, at the campus in New Haven, Connecticut.
He will combine his work at Yale with his duties as a special envoy to the
Quartet, an international body committed to peace in the Middle East.
He is to spend part of each month in London and part in New Haven.
His work with the Quartet - which represents the United Nations, the US,
the
European Union and Russia - takes up about ten days a month. Sources close
to Blair say that he is taking on an enormous work burden and will be
tremendously over-committed in the coming year.
The deans of the Yale schools of management and divinity are in discussion
with Blair about how much time he will spend at the university.
Professor Richard Levin, president of Yale, said: "The appointment of Mr.
Blair provides a tremendous op****tunity for our students and our
community.
As the world continues to become increasingly inter-dependent, it is
essential that we explore how religious values can be channeled toward
reconciliation rather than polarisation."
He added: "Mr Blair has demonstrated outstanding leader****p in these areas
and is especially qualified to bring his perspective to bear. We are
honoured that he is planning to join the Yale community."
Blair and his then chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, sounded out the London
School of Economics in 2006 about setting up a school of government but
backed off after resistance from staff and students over his role in the
Iraq war.
Blair's close links with President George Bush and his sup****t for the
2003
Iraq invasion are less controversial in the US than in Britain.
Yale has strong ties with Bush and his father, both graduates. Blair's son
Euan is an undergraduate at the university.
Blair, who is in the US and is due to return to the UK next week, saw Bush
in Wa****ngton on Tuesday.
Yale had not been planning to announce his new post until later this year
but brought forward a statement after being contacted by the Guardian.
His decision to teach religion as well as politics confirms how im****tant
his Christianity was during his years in Downing Street. Fearful that it
could turn off some voters, he played it down in the run-up to the 1997
general election and the early years of his premier****p.
He is to set up a Blair Faith Foundation, based in London, before heading
to
the US for the autumn term. The foundation is intended to promote
understanding between Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and look at the
role
of religion in the modern world.
The new body was inspired by the Clinton Foundation, which raises money
for
the developing world.
Yale said that he will teach a seminar and be involved in other events
round
the campus, all related to examining issues of faith and globalisation
related to his Faith Foundation. While at Downing Street, he read the
Koran
to try to better understand the Muslim world in the aftermath of 9/11.
His post at Yale is the Howland Distinguished Fellow****p, created in 1915
for a "citizen of any country in recognition of some achievement of marked
distinction in the field of literature or fine arts or the science of
government." Among those who have been Howland Distinguished Fellows are
the
composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, journalist Sir Alistair Cooke and
stateswoman Indira Gandhi.
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