(The Express On Sunday Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Criticised by his former Home Secretary and accused of losing direction, battling to control crime, stymied by judges in his attempts to control would-be terrorists, locked in a battle with Gordon Brown over the date of his departure, now he has lost three by-elections in one night. So does Tony Blair think he can be. . .

TONY Blair will decide his future during a summer holiday with his wife and children next month. He also wants to make up his mind over what he plans to do after leaving Downing Street.

And that could mean working with Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.

The outgoing Prime Minister has held secret talks with the world's richest man about working more closely together in the future. The two men, who have developed a close friendship, share a passion to fight poverty and disease in Africa, and their formidable alliance could even mean that Mr Blair will move his family to live in the United States.

Reports last week claimed that Mr Blair could announce a timetable for his departure as early as this autumn, when the Labour Party meets for its annual conference in Manchester.

But close friends of the Prime Minister claim he has not yet decided when to leave No10 and is carefully considering his move.

According to senior sources at Microsoft, one option being considered for Mr Blair's future will see him set up a "Blair Foundation", which would be funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and concentrate on providing charitable relief for the twin causes Mr Blair is most passionate about - Africa and climate change.

Another exit strategy from Downing Street being widely mooted in Westminster is that Mr Gates will employ the Premier as the front man for his multibillion-pound philanthropy empire. However, a close friend of the Prime Minister told the Sunday Express: "He is not actually taking any commercial approaches at the moment, mainly for reasons of propriety.

"I think he is being deliberately kept out of it because he doesn't want to get compromised. He wants a period where he can have time to capitalise on the value of the currency he will have immediately after leaving office.

"I have always thought he will go and make lots of money on the US lecture tour circuit and after that he would be looking for a big international job, but there is nothing already set in stone."

The friend said Cherie Blair was also keen for him to make money when he leaves office, adding: "Everyone knows what Cherie wants. I think he is conscious of what he is able to do after leaving No10. He knows he's not going to be short of offers. He is massively popular in the States."

The friend explained: "He will think during August when he's away about whether he's going to say anything about his future at the party conference.

He hasn't decided yet whether he will say anything about the timing of his departure or the succession.

"He's getting lots of advice from friends and colleagues. I don't think he should give any date for his departure.

He would become a lame duck. It's not long since Labour won the general election and he still has things to do. He has an agenda on which he was elected."

The key problem that must be faced by the Blairs as they move on is their ability to pay the mortgage on their GBP3.65million home in Connaught Square, London - estimated at almost GBP17,000 a month.

His chief advisers, including chief of staff Jonathan Powell, Labour Party chief fund raiser Lord Levy and polling guru Lord Gould, are helping the Prime Minister plan his next step.That step will almost certainly be on the lucrative path followed by former Premiers Baroness Thatcher and John Major before he contemplates his charity foundation, which will allow him a relatively modest salary.

A lecture tour of the US, paying him as much as GBP100,000 a speech, could help to pay off his debts quickly and provide the financial security to concentrate on his philanthropic yearnings.

However, plans for a Blair Foundation would enable the Prime Minister to remain on an equal footing with Mr Gates, the man who has become his closest ally in ensuring that promises made by such events as last year's G8 conference in Gleneagles and the Live8 concerts are kept.

A similar foundation set up by former US President Bill Clinton, another powerful friend of Mr Blair, has raised more than GBP70million since its launch in Harlem, New York, and has maintained his status at the centre of international affairs. A Microsoft source said: "Tony feels he still has a lot to offer after leaving office but he doesn't think he has anything left to prove in politics.

"By linking up with someone like Bill Gates, he can achieve his goals without having to wade through bureaucracy and walk diplomatic tightropes.

"With the Gates Foundation behind him, he will have the financial backing to make a real difference very quickly.

"That has got to appeal to someone like Blair. Let's also not forget that the Prime Minister handed Bill Gates an honorary knighthood. There's no question that Microsoft could provide the Blairs with a beautiful home close to the Gateses in Washington."

"Blair's image has been tarnished of late. Maybe he sees this as an opportunity to shine it up a little."

ACCORDING to another former US President, Jimmy Carter, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is "the most important organisation in the world".

It has assets of more than GBP20billion and looks like it will double in size, helped in large part by a huge donation promised by tycoon Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world.

Mr Gates announced recently that he plans to step down and take a back-seat role at Microsoft in two years, at about the time that Mr Blair may be ready to devote himself to charitable work.

In Westminster and Seattle, few believe the timing is a total coincidence.

Sources say that although Microsoft owns property in Seattle and Bill Gates lives in a huge GBP50million home overlooking Lake Washington, the Blairs are certain to prefer a livelier social scene in the US.

Friends say a move to New York state would be more likely, allowing them to be close to eldest son Euan, 22, who starts a masters degree in international relations at Yale University in September. Bill and Hillary Clinton own a home in Chappaqua in upstate New York, and that may influence the Blairs who may be tempted to buy on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Although there were suggestions earlier this month that Mr Blair could be bound for the top job with the United Nations in New York, it has now been virtually ruled out as a Briton is unlikely to be selected as the next secretarygeneral, with the continuing international backlash over the Iraq war.

However, the Blairs would be embraced by Manhattan's elite social set and the Prime Minister would be welcomed in Washington, where he has been careful to keep ties with both Democrat and Republican leaders including George Bush.

One Washington insider said: "With powerful backers like Mr Gates and America's two most recent Presidents, Blair may be better positioned in the US than in Britain to get action on the causes he really cares about.

"He has won a lot of friends in high places for standing strong with America in Iraq. That might not make him so popular in his own country but it will help him here if he decides to come."

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