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THEY are the three little words that mean so much. “Useless, useless, useless.”

That was the verdict of Hamas spokesman Mohammed Shtayyeh on Tony Blair and the self-styled Quartet – the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – trying to bring peace to the Middle East.

The judgement, short and to the point, it has to be said, was delivered in December but little seems to have happened in seven months to change it.

The former Prime Minister who took the job when he left Downing Street in 2007 is said to think often of his legacy and what will remain of his work when he is gone?

Six years shuttling to and from Israel and Palestine – although he has rarely visited Gaza for security reasons – have left a legacy built on sand and made of dust.

Yesterday, the Palestinians and Israelis took a baby step towards new peace talks although, even John Kerry, who claimed credit, was quick to curb any enthusiasm.

“The best way,” said the U.S Secretary of State, “to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private”.

Managed expectations would appear to be the way to go when the Israelis have apparently already said that the talks will not be discussing borders or any halt to their settlements on the West Bank.

Kerry has been to the region six times in recent months and you could be forgiven for suspecting that his determination to make something happen after so many years of drift and death has helped propel the sides to, at the very least, sit down together.

But even if our former Prime Minister wants to claim some credit, as his spokesman seemed to yesterday, these proposed, putative talks seem meagre return for his efforts.

Blair, of course, knows that his history is held against him. In particular, his decision to take Britain to war in Iraq.

He continues to defend his choice to saddle up alongside George W. Bush for a war that need not have been fought and could never be won.

But his blind and defiant insistence that he was on the side of right has continued despite the terrible consequences of his drive to war.

This former Prime Minister believes the world will listen when he tells the West to arm the rebels in Syria.

He remains quietly confident that the movers and shakers will be hanging on his every word when he supports a military coup in Egypt.

Certainly, it was a military coup that deposed a pretty awful government but it was a pretty awful government that, inconveniently, had won most votes in a democratic election.

But still Blair beats on. In his own mind, a statesman on the world stage, a man of principle and destiny.

Let him believe it if he must. Thankfully, in the real world, the rest of us do not need to.