You’d think the time pressure of being several G-8 nations’ lead representative trying to craft a last-minute, face saving Middle East peace deal for George W. Bush’s legacy (he only has 234 days left to his regime and sabre rattling/bombing Iran is still on the table) would be a big enough job. Or, trying to match the book, speaking circuit and consulting £75 million pounds over 7-years raised by his pal by Bill Clinton would seem a formidable enough task. But noooo….

Now Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, wants to tackle religious extremism that leads to violence by creating a new foundation to reduce tensions and create better understanding between faiths long suspicious of each other. He announced this past weekend the formation of his own charitable foundation aiming to raise “hundreds of millions of dollars,” in a move he described as “the rest of my life’s work.” The newly minted Catholic, decided it was time to bring all world faiths together in the spirit of understanding and cooperation to reduce violence. Bravo and we wish him much success.

And, many a world leader leaves office and heads comfortably and quietly to retirement. Tony though is a young man, very much like Bill Clinton was when he left office. He is filled with a sense of guilt and unfinished business as he works to separate himself from his own legacy as W’s lap dog who brought the UK into the Iraq War that never ends and cleverly left the flaming bag of war and economic poo on Gordon Brown’s desk thinking, perhaps shrewdly and correctly, that the public’s notoriously short attention span would keep his legacy safe and him free from taint.

Indeed his war and economic policies are on trial and the one most affected is his successor. In a scene reminiscent of the fall of the Tory leader John Major, Labour has lost crucial bi-election seats on local councils and is speeding off the cliff to a general election defeat in 2010 as a perfect storm of war, economy and the public’s natural, cyclical tiring of 11-years of one party’s rule whilst a clarion call for change rings out in the US Presidential election mean that like John Major, a decent and good man will take the fall for his predecessor’s follies.

Legacy building can be fraught with challenges. There are so many questions waiting to be asked and answered.

- When one seeks to change the way history will judge them, are they able to see the difference between the nobility of the cause and their own interests and… behave accordingly?
- What type of return on investment is considered acceptable in a fund-raising venture such as this and how does one keep funds separate from one’s own considerable business dealings?
- Would someone wishing to curry favour with a former PM know the difference or care?
- As any businessman might ask, what does success look like in this new venture?
- While a noble cause, where is the ‘there’ there and how will one know when they reach it?

My wife was very excited reading about it in the paper this weekend and I confess to an initial rush of enthusiasm towards the idea. I just hope Tony can reach a point in his life where doing the right thing is more important than doing the most expedient, press gathering thing.

Otherwise like the America’s 1st black president harming his wife’s campaign through mis-statements and overt racism, the UK’s 1st faith healing ex-PM could find himself in a spot of similar bother if his motives become less than pure and he is seen to profit from the effort rather than whole-heartedly leading it from the front.