It was only after the two warplanes had taken up an attack position that his aircrew used the radio to explain who they were and who they had on board.

Mr Blair, who has served for 11 months as Middle East envoy for The Quartet, was en route to Israel from a World Economic Forum meeting at Sharm El Sheikh in neighbouring Egypt on Wednesday morning.

After the aircrew accounted for themselves the intercepting aircraft peeled off and returned to base.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: "Mr Blair was one of a number of delegates on a flight back from the World Economic Forum in Sharm El Sheikh.

"We were not aware of any problem at the time, and have not been notified of any issue with the flight."

Israel has one of the most stringent air defence systems in the world and warplanes are often scrambled for false alarms.