Tony Blair has announced he is winding down the opaque commercial ventures that have been the focus of his work since leaving Downing Street.

A statement on his website said the "substantial reserves" that Tony Blair Associates has accumulated will now be gifted to not-for-profit work.

Mr Blair has been criticised over the vast profits his Firerush and Windrush structures have generated, especially from consultancy work carried out for foreign governments and multi-national firms.

The statement reads: "Tony Blair has formally announced to staff his decision to close Tony Blair Associates and wind up the Firerush and Windrush structures.

"He will gift the substantial financial reserves to the not-for-profit work, on which he will continue to spend the vast majority of his time."

Blair says Britain can still avoid Brexit

The former Prime Minister said: "It is time to take this to a new level.

"As I indicated last December at our annual all staff meeting, I want to expand our activities and bring everything under one roof.

Tony Blair: A career of controversies Show all 11 1 /11 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Tony Blair: A career of controversies The Tony Blair 'selfie'.. A journalist takes a picture of Kennard Phillips 'Photo Op', depicting Prime Minister Tony Blair taking a 'selfie' in front of an explosion in Iraq, during a press viewing of the exhibition Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War Tony Blair: A career of controversies Protesters pictured outside the QEII Conference centre in London in 2011 as former British PM Tony Blair give his evidence in the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry Tony Blair: A career of controversies David Lawley-Wakelin, who disrupted Tony Blair’s testimony at the Leveson Inquiry by bursting into the court Tony Blair: A career of controversies Blair giving evidence Tony Blair: A career of controversies Tony Blair visiting troops in Iraq in 2007 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Blair meeting with troops in Basra, Iraq in 2003 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to British soldiers at Divisional Headquaters in Basra, May 2007 Tony Blair: A career of controversies British Prime Minister Tony Blair eats dinner with British troops in Basra, Iraq, 21 December, 2004 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Syrian president Bashar El Assad during his official visit to the United Kingdom in 2002. Mr Blair tried to engage Mr Garcia in a conversation about Syria. The former Prime Minister made clear he was very much in favour of military intervention last summer. Tony Blair: A career of controversies Syrian president Bashar El Assad and wife Asma during their official visit to the United Kingdom in 2002. Mr Blair tried to engage Mr Garcia in a conversation about Syria Tony Blair: A career of controversies Former Prime Minister Tony Blair's signature adorns a program he signed for an Iraq veteran during a reception at the Guildhall in London following the service of commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral honouring UK military and civilian personnel who served in Iraq

"I also want now to concentrate the vast bulk of my time on the not-for-profit work which we do. De facto, this has been the case in the past two years but we need to reflect this change in the way we are structured."

He confirmed that he would retain "a small number of personal consultancies for my income, but 80 per cent of my time will be pro bono on the not-for-profit side."

Mr Blair has faced criticism for giving PR advice to the Kazakhstan regime about how to handle a massacre of civilians by the security services. He has also advised countries including Kuwait, Rwanda, Albania and Azerbaijan.

It was also reported last year that Mr Blair would help Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who served in his country’s government during the 1999 Nato bombing operation which took place in the Kosovo War.