UNITED NATIONS -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that he completely trusts Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but stopped just short of endorsing her.

"Rather than say anything about Mr. Trump, I will say this about Hillary Clinton," Blair said at a Reuters forum in New York Tuesday. "She is someone in my view who I personally would trust completely. I think she is of enormous wisdom, common sense and integrity."

Blair served as the United Kingdom's head of government from 1997 to 2007, and leader of the British opposition before that, overlapping Bill Clinton's tenure as President of the United States. Blair, like President Clinton, is considered a "third-way" politician: a center-left leader, who is less skeptical of business and military intervention.

Blair's remarks are likely to draw the ire of Hillary Clinton's critics. The former U.S. secretary of state's past support of the Iraq War has been a major issue of the campaign, and the issue was used against Clinton in her 2008 campaign as well, spurring her loss to then-Senator Barack Obama.

Blair, like President Obama in his U.N. address Tuesday, warned against global isolationism. Critics charge that Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has used the slogan "America First," is an isolationist.

Speaking about the role of the United States, Blair said: "If you turn away from what is happening in the world when those values are being undermined, you don't fulfill your destiny as a country... You have been given this destiny as a country. No one else can do this in the world today."

Blair predicted chaos if the U.S. was not globally assertive.

"Can you imagine the soccer game where the referee decides to go back in the changing room? The first few moments, everyone says that's great, and they're away. After a time, it's chaos," Blair said.

Trump has said the U.S. does not have the "right to lecture" other nations.