Blair joins firm as international adviser.

A SECOND major financial player has signed up former Prime Minister Tony Blair as an adviser, it was revealed yesterday.

Mr Blair will help Swiss financial firm Zurich on "developments and trends in the international political environment".

The appointment comes less than three weeks after the ex-Premier took on a similar role with JP Morgan, one of Wall Street's biggest investment banks, in a job worth a reported pounds 500,000 a year.

Mr Blair will also advise Zurich on its climate initiative - aimed at developing products and research to tackle the growing risks of climate change - which it announced last week.

He said: "There is a consensus that the challenge of climate change is real and what we need are the policy solutions to turn that concern into action."

Zurich was unavailable to comment on how much Mr Blair will be paid and how much time he will spend working for the company, which has about 58,000 staff in 170 countries.

But chief executive James Schiro said he was excited about signing up Mr Blair.

He added: "His appointment sits alongside other initiatives where Zurich has partnered with external thought leaders to challenge and enhance our thinking."

Mr Blair is currently an unpaid international envoy to the Middle East.

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Former Prime Minister Tony Blair - has joined Swiss group Zurich