It was an oddly familiar scene: Sir Tony Blair, back in the White House. Only this time, he was endorsing peace, not war.

Sir Tony’s reputation precedes him in Washington, with anti-war liberals and Maga isolationists united in their distrust for Britain’s former prime minister.

So his return to the main stage of global politics and Donald Trump’s endorsement for his post-war Gaza blueprint filled plenty of column inches in America’s leading newspapers.

The New York Times reported that Sir Tony has been “tortured” by the region he is set to govern since he backed George W Bush’s war in Iraq 22 years ago. But concluded that the odds of him redeeming himself as a Middle East peacemaker were “perilously slim”.

The Washington Post posited that Sir Tony’s return to politics should not come as a surprise given his track record for embracing “the thorniest conflicts”, while also noting that for many, the idea of him becoming the “governor of Gaza” will “rankle” given his tarnished legacy in that part of the world.

But winning over the court of public opinion mattered less than wooing Mr Trump.