Blair: 'There's more to life than money' (Try telling that to Cherie, Tony)

Since stepping down last year, Tony Blair has earned a small fortune on the lecture circuit and with his consultancy jobs.

But now the former Prime Minister has insisted financial matters must be secondary to those of faith. In fact, his words may be seen as a gentle remark upon his wife Cherie's apparent appetite for accumulating wealth.

Her new memoirs are littered with references to worries over his salary, a mortgage 'the size of Mount Snowdon' on their £3.5million London townhouse, not to mention their £4million country seat in Buckinghamshire.

But her husband says: 'Without spiritual values, there is an emptiness that cannot be filled by material goods and wealth.'

As he prepared to launch his Tony Blair Faith Foundation in New York today, Mr Blair vowed to 'spend the rest of my life' seeking to unite the world's religions.

The former PM  -  whose spin chief Alistair Campbell famously declared 'we don't do God'  -  also claimed that his religious conviction gave him the courage to take unpopular decisions during his ten years in No10 .

Mr Blair said last year he had been wary of talking about his faith during his time in Downing Street for fear of being seen 'as a nutter'.

A committed Anglican since his teenage years, he converted to Roman Catholicism after leaving Number Ten last year.

In an interview with Time magazine, he made no direct reference to the Iraq war, but claimed religion had sustained him during his worst periods as Prime Minister.

'You don't put a hotline up to God and get the answers,' he said. 'The worst thing in politics is when you're so scared of losing support that youbdon't do what you think is the right thing.

'What faith can do is not tell you what is right, but give you the strength to do it. I think faith gives you a certain strength and gives you a support in doing a job as difficult as leading a country and gives you that strength and support.'

The interview is accompanied by pictures of Mr Blair 'on the road' in his role as Middle East peace envoy.

He will announce today that his foundation will seek to bring together six faiths  -  Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism.

It is to be run by his former No10 aide Ruth Turner, who was arrested in the 'cash for peerages' inquiry, but cleared of any wrongdoing.

Mr Blair said faith should be a 'civilising force in globalisation'. One of the first priorities of the foundation, he said, would be to bring different religions together to help fight the spread of malaria.

'If you got churches and mosques and those of the Jewish faith working together to provide the bed nets that are necessary to eliminate malaria, what a fantastic thing that would be,' he added. 'That would show faith in action, it would show the importance of co-operation between faiths.'

In an accompanying video, Mr Blair said he had been thinking about setting up the foundation for a long time  -  before he stepped down.

'The purpose of it is so that we achieve a greater understanding between the different religious faiths, so that we make platforms for action by those faiths and deal with some of the biggest issues in the world.'

'But also so that we show that faith is something positive, a force for progress.'

Since he left office last June, Mr Blair is estimated to have signed deals worth nearly £10million. He won a £5million advance on his memoirs, a £2.5million salary after being signed up by the U.S. investment bank J P Morgan, and £2million for an adviser's role with the Swiss finance firm Zurich.