Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood actor and Governor of California, has backed Tony Blair to lead the global fight against climate change.

The Terminator star was the last foreign official to meet Mr Blair as Prime Minister, before Gordon Brown takes the job tomorrow. The pair discussed global warming during their breakfast meeting today and the American says Mr Blair should be given a job creating a global consensus on climate change.

“I hope that he becomes the envoy for the environment and brings all the countries of the world together to join some kind of treaty - a Kyoto kind of treaty - that everyone can join and we can all together reduce greenhouse gases,” said Mr Schwarzenegger.

“I think the Prime Minister is the only person who can do that.”

Despite the call for him to become a climate change ambassador an announcement is expected today confirming Mr Blair’s appointment as an international envoy in the Middle East.

The out-going Prime Minister hinted that he would be happy to take a role in the Middle East. “I think that anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential and I will do whatever I can to help such a resolution come about,” he said.

Mr Schwarzenegger gave his support for the appointment, but suggested the Prime Minister could also be an effective spokesman for the climate change lobby because he had “proven to the world that you can do both, you can protect the Earth and protect the economy”.

“Maybe he can take on both of the challenges?” he suggested.

Mr Schwarzenegger, a Republican governor, has taken the lead in the US environmental campaign by committing California to limits on carbon emissions despite President Bush’s refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty. He says he used British policy as a model for his own green legislation.

Mr Blair underlined his own credentials for the climate change job as well as reaffirming his desire to work in the Middle East.

He said the agreement reached at the G8 summit was a major step forward despite no commitment to specific cuts. “For the first time at the G8 a few weeks ago we have an agreement on the basic principles for a new global deal on climate change,” said Mr Blair.

The Prime Minister appeared to be enjoying his final press conference at Downing Street standing alongside Mr Schwarzenegger, he said: “My press officer said to me, whatever else you do this morning, don’t say: ’I’ll be back’.”

The California Governor was in London after meeting the new French president yesterday. He praised Nicolas Sarkozy and said he hoped his administration would “put a new energy in the relationship between France and other countries, and our state”.

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• All that glitters is not sold in Wright’s world
• Believe it or not, Big Brother is your friend