Blair denies role in Murdoch divorce

Quartet envoy to the Middle East and former British prime minister Tony Blair denied allegations that he and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng were romantically involved.

“If you are asking if they are having an affair, the answer is no,” a spokesperson for Blair told the Hollywood Reporter, adding that there had “never been” an affair.

The rep further added that Blair would not be making public statements on the rumors or on the couple’s divorce proceedings.

The media rumors about the alleged affair began to spread after news broke Thursday that Murdoch and Deng, the media mogul’s third wife, would be getting a divorce after 14 years of marriage.

Murdoch, who is estimated to be worth some $8 billion, initiated proceedings in a New York court, citing as grounds “that the relationship has broken down irretrievably,” said the Daily Mail.

Blair is the godfather to Murdoch and Deng’s two daughters, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff, in the Daily Mail, described Blair as “one of Wendi’s first official social conquests.”

In 2011, rumors circulated that Blair had an affair with Israeli businesswoman and one of the richest women in the country Ofra Strauss, of the billion-dollar food company Strauss Group.

Strauss had divorced her husband a year earlier. Both Blair and Strauss denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous.”