Tony Blair intends to quit Parliament immediately and forge a lucrative career as an international envoy, campaigner and roving celebrity statesman.

He is expected to announce later today that he will step down as MP for Sedgefield in Co Durham.

His salary for his new post as a special envoy to the Middle East has not been disclosed, but the EU previously paid its own envoy to the Middle East about £120,000 a year.

Representatives of the Quartet overseeing the Middle East peace process — the US, UN, EU and Russia — were expected to agree his appointment at a meeting in Jerusalem last night. However, Russia was delaying the deal.

If appointed, Mr Blair would replace James Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank, who held the post from May 2005 until April last year.

Mr Blair will focus on Palestinian economic and political reform. The international community wants to bolster the position of President Abbas, who is trying to consolidate his power in the West Bank after the seizure of Gaza by Hamas.

Mr Blair’s decision to send British troops to Iraq means that he remains a controversial figure in Arab capitals. He will not be expected to act initially as a mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians, but to help the Palestinian Authority to rebuild its institutions.

It is not a full-time job and will leave him time to pursue other interests. Mr Blair plans to continue work on development in Africa and the search for a global agreement to curb climate change. He also plans to launch an interfaith foundation, join the speech-making circuit and write his memoirs.

Although he will lose his MP’s salary and allowances, he will be compensated many times over by new opportunities. According to the literary agent Ed Victor, he could command $75,000 (£37,000) per lecture if he toured the US.

His decision to quit the Commons was made easier by the death last week of the Labour MP Piara Khabra, triggering a by-election in Ealing Southall. Labour insiders say that the two by-elections are likely to be held on the same day, probably July 26, the day the Commons rises for the summer recess.

He will be the first Prime Minister to quit the Commons immediately on leaving Downing Street since Sir Anthony Eden in 1957. Harold Macmillan, Margaret Thatcher and John Major all waited until the next general elections to leave the Commons.

Today's schedule

Noon Tony Blair attends his final Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons

Shortly after 1pm Mr Blair will walk down the corridor from the Cabinet room to the entrance lobby of No 10. Staff will line the walls to applaud him out of office. Mr Blair and his wife, Cherie, will face a barrage of TV cameras and photographers as he climbs into his prime ministerial Jaguar for the five-minute drive to Buckingham Palace. Mrs Blair will wait in an anteroom while Mr Blair tenders his resignation to the Queen. Mr Blair and his wife will then be swept out of the Palace in a different car and will soon head for his Sedgefield constituency

After 1.30pm Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah, will arrive. The Queen will invite him to form a new government and he will agree. Mrs Brown will go in to see the Queen. They will climb into Pegasus and, accompanied by Mr Blair’s security detail, go to No 10, where Mr Brown will make a speech in the street before entering the building. He will work on his reshuffle and call a number of foreign leaders

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