28 days later: After one month in the political wilderness, how is the ex-PM surviving?

Some have diagnosed Tony Blair's hyperactivity in the month since he left office as a symptom of post-prime-ministerial traumatic stress syndrome. In a whirlwind of activity, he has kept up a punishing schedule of trips abroad, diplomatic meetings and functions that leave him little time for reflection on the life he has left behind.

Unlike Harold Wilson, the last prime minister to stand down at a time of his own choosing, who withdrew into himself, shrouded by the mist of paranoia, he has thrown himself into a new job as envoy to the Middle East. With visits to 10 countries in the past four weeks, his diary has not looked that different from his No 10 schedule. Last week, even the never-ending struggle with Gordon Brown was still going on. Mr Blair was back in his old office at No 10 for a face-to-face meeting with the new Prime Minister. They must have talked about Mr Brown's plan to appoint his own envoy to the Middle East. Michael Williams, currently working for the UN, and Mr Blair are bound to face some delicate demarcation issues.

Since he drove away from the famous front door for the last time as a resident, with Cherie tossing a parting insult to journalists, he has toured European capitals – Brussels, Rome, Madrid and Lisbon – to meet prime ministers, foreign ministers and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State. Last week he went to Jordan, Bahrain, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Two weeks ago he was in America, speaking to a conference of media moguls. At the mountain retreat of Sun Valley, Idaho, Mr Blair met Rupert Murdoch, whose newspapers cheered him to the last as PM, and Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire Mayor of New York. Although it was a conference of media companies, it was closed to ordinary reporters. Mr Blair – who could command up to £125,000 for such engagements – was not paid to speak, although flights for him, and Cherie, who accompanied him, were paid.

The pace has not slackened at home. Mr Brown allowed the Blairs to stay on at Chequers, the PM's country retreat, for a few days. But now they have moved into their Connaught Square house – bought in 2004 for £3.65m. The move has been complicated by ongoing building work to convert a mews cottage at the back that was bought for another £800,000.

In addition, Cherie was called for jury service and spent several days looking less than thrilled to be in Blackfriars Crown Court hearing a case of attempted robbery on a bus. "The house is not ready for the housewarming party yet," said one friend who has seen the inside.

Is all this frantic activity an attempt to mask the pain of loss? A friend who spoke to him a few weeks before he stood down interrupted a cheerful conversation to say: "You don't want to go, do you?" Mr Blair didn't reply, but looked away and shook his head very slightly. The same friend reports, though, that since his departure Mr Blair has seemed remarkably at ease with himself. The intensity of his determination to do something "with a purpose" is, says this friend, part of who he is rather than a form of displacement activity.

Indeed, Mr Blair is relaxed enough to crack jokes at his own expense. At a reception for MPs and peers two weeks after his departure, he started his short speech by saying, "Remember me?" And there is a part of him that looked forward to liberation from the chains of office. His friend from the Oxford band Ugly Rumours, Mark Ellen, recently said that he and Mr Blair had discussed plans to re-form the group. Mr Blair told him: "You will soon see the real me emerging again."

Soon, perhaps, but not yet. He may be heading off to Barbados for another holiday at Sir Cliff Richards' villa this summer, but this spell of R&R aside, Mr Blair seems intent on setting up a Downing Street in exile. A compact version of his entourage has followed him out of No 10. Most immediately, he is still physically flanked at all times by Special Branch security personnel with earpieces. On his work as Middle East envoy, he has Matthew Doyle, a former Downing Street press spokesman, by his side.

Nor has he eschewed entirely the trappings of high office. He joked at a Labour fundraiser at Wembley that he had been confused when his driver stopped at red lights, and that he had not yet got the hang of using his own mobile phone. But on his trip to Jerusalem, he still stayed at the King David Hotel, favoured by heads of state and visiting royals. And he retains a substantial staff, paid for by the governments of the US, Russia and the EU, with the UK picking up the largest share.

Also providing continuity with his previous life is Ruth Turner, his No 10 gatekeeper. Little-known outside government until her arrest in the cash-for-honours affair, she is working to set up the Blair Foundation, a charity whose principal aim would be to promote interfaith dialogue. With a pre-politics background in charitable work, having set up the Big Issue in the North, she was last week hunting for a London HQ for the foundation which Mr Blair could also use as a base for his envoy role.

Working with her to set up the foundation is Nick Banner, a member of Tony Blair's foreign policy team in No 10 who has just been appointed Mr Blair's chief of staff. He is expected to be joined by William Chapman, the appointments secretary at Downing Street who handled the appointments of bishops. Mr Blair is in talks with him about heading the foundation, now that his job has been downgraded, because Mr Brown relinquished the power to make Church of England appointments.

Ms Turner has been busy drawing up a business plan for his foundation as well as proposals for the membership of the board. Mr Blair is also setting up an office in East Jerusalem with 12 permanent staff. In addition to his work on the foundation and as envoy, he has asked Ms Turner to set up a charity for him to support sport and young people in the North-east, which will be run by his former agent, John Burton, in his old Sedgefield constituency.

Throwing himself into the Middle East role, his foundation and the cause of sport in the North-east all at once is typical of his optimism and energy. As Mr Blair said in his resignation speech in his constituency: "Politics may be the art of the possible, but at least in life, give the impossible a go."

Further reading: 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid' by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster, £17.99)