British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is appointing an envoy to the Middle East, just weeks after the international Quartet of Mideast mediators gave his predecessor Tony Blair the same job, the British newspaper The Guardian reported Saturday.

Hours after Blair stepped down as prime minister on June 27, the Quartet - comprised of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Russia - appointed him with a mandate to focus on mobilizing international support and assistance for the Palestinians. The Guardian report came just days after Blair made his maiden visit as envoy to the region.

According to the report, Brown will appoint to the new post Michael Williams, who currently serves as United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to the region.

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The newspaper did not specify what the nature of Williams' role in the region would be, or whether he and Blair would be expected to work together.

The report did suggest, however, that if Williams focused on economic development, which is Blair's explicit mandate, tensions may arise.

"If he works on the economic road map, Williams will be playing on the same pitch as Blair, and Blair is a bigger and a better player," a diplomat was quoted in The Guardian as saying.

While Blair has been officially entrusted to help the Palestinians build institutions that will increase the viability of a future state, he is expected to stray from the mandate and use his political and diplomatic clout to further peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Blair and Brown, his long-serving finance minister, had a
tense relationship during their decade as the most powerful men
in the British government.