Tony Blair says he would consider toppling Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe if he were still in power.

'If you can do it then you should do it,' he says in an article in Germany’s Stern Magazine that hits news-stands tomorrow.

'I think whoever has the possibility should topple Mugabe – the man has destroyed his country, many people have died unnecessarily because of him.

Take him on: Tony Blair thinks Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should be toppled from power

'My idea of foreign policy is that if you can do something, you should do it.  But of course you have to operate carefully within precise boundaries.'

Blair, currently part of a team seeking to bring peace to the Middle East, touched on several subjects in an interview mostly related to his past – but laughed off one about the future.

Asked by the magazine if he would take a pay-cut should he be elected as the first president of the European Union he said: 'Let’s see first if there is such a job.'

On a more serious note he said he recognised that his decision to side with America to take down Saddam Hussein remains an open wound with the British public.

'Yes, I must live with that because I must live with the consequences of my decision,' he said of the war which cost nearly 200 British service personnel their lives and deeply divided the nation.

He admits the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, the chief cause for Britain siding with the invasion, was wrong but adds; 'Do I regret eliminating Saddam? I say openly: No.'

Blair says his new role in seeking a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict means that his closeness with America is seen as an advantage. 

'It is never a problem,' he adds.  He says he fights hard for the Palestinians but adds: 'If Israel is attacked, it must defend itself.'

Blair says one of his greatest challenges after leaving office was getting used to the day-to-day things of life – 'like Blackberrys and e-mailing' – which hitherto a large staff used to sort out for him.

By Staff reporter and agencies