SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Archbishop Welby's son given plum job by Blair

By Sebastian Shakespeare for The Daily Mail

Published: 18:49 EST, 1 April 2014 | Updated: 18:49 EST, 1 April 2014

Since he was forced out of 10 Downing Street in 2007, Tony Blair has used his charities and mysterious web of companies to reward his loyal lieutenants and create a powerful global network of contacts.

Now, the multi-millionaire former prime minister has added an intriguing name to his payroll.

Blair has quietly given Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's son, Peter, a key role in his Faith Foundation, which he set up after stepping down as PM.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's son, Peter, has been given a key role in Tony Blair's Faith Foundation

'Peter Welby is a researcher for a new website we are launching later this year that will analyse the role of religion in conflicts around the world,' says a foundation spokesman.

The charity, run by Blair's former Downing Street director of government relations, Ruth Turner, published an article on its website this week by young Welby about the civil war in Syria, where Blair had called for 'regime change' as far back as 2011.

Last week, 23-year-old Peter, a York University graduate who studied Arabic in Egypt last year, warned about Vladimir Putin's Russia after its annexation of Crimea.

'I fear the Government would be wise to consider reversing some defence cuts, just in case,' he said hawkishly.

It was through the Faith Foundation that Blair cemented his much-talked-about relationship with Wendi Deng, the  former wife of media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

She was asked to be a judge of the charity's short film competition in 2011.

Tony Blair has used his charities and mysterious web of companies to reward his loyal lieutenants

Dame Gail Rebuck, the publisher whose firm paid Blair a £4.6million advance for his memoirs, was appointed to the foundation's board last year. Her daughter, Georgia, had worked as its website and online co-ordinator. And Suzanne Ashman, daughter of motor racing tycoon Jonathan and wife of Blair's son, Euan, worked for the Foundation in 2009.

Last year it was disclosed that the charity was being bankrolled by  Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, who gave it £320,000 — a fifth of all the donations declared in the relevant accounts.

The Foundation declines to say how much it is paying Peter Welby.

In his article about the Syrian conflict, Welby junior writes: 'Peace is unlikely until one group is sufficiently dominant to take the others with it.'

Surely he doesn't under-estimate the influence of Blair, a peace envoy to the Middle East?

April Fool's jokes even spread to the palace. On the official Facebook page of the Queen's Scottish retreat, Balmoral, staff posted a photograph of what they claimed was a fast-food restaurant opening in the vicinity of the 49,000-acre estate and called 'Burger Queen'.

Estate workers would no longer have to make the 100-mile round trip to Aberdeen for their nearest hamburger joint.

Let's hope Her Majesty sees the funny side. Balmoral was bought in 1852 by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria, who is said to have once remarked: 'We are not amused.'