Former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has suggested he may have been removed from the post in Tony Blair’s government because he was in favour of dialogue with Palestinian terror group Hamas.

Mr Straw told a conference at the weekend that he believed an off-the-record briefing to journalists in Riyadh on the need for talks for relations with the Islamist group had contributed to his removal from the position he held between 2001 and 2006.

Speaking to the Middle East Monitor conference, the former Blackburn MP and ex-Home Secretary said: "I am unhappy about our boycotting of Hamas. I talked off the record to some journalists in Riyadh in early 2006 and said we ought to be talking to Hamas.

"Some people say I was removed from the post of Foreign Secretary" because of these comments.

Mr Straw spoke of the importance to push for negotiated settlements when dealing with international crises and argued that the widespread boycott of Hamas had contributed to the failure to resolve the Israel/Palestine crisis.

His remarks come only a few weeks after Mr Blair said in an interview that he believed he and other Western leaders were wrong to impose an immediate boycott of Hamas after they won control of Gaza in the 2006 Palestinian election.

Mr Straw has previously suggested that "neo-cons" close to the then-US President George W Bush "were never terribly" keen on him and may have pressured Mr Blair into firing him.

As Prime Minister, Mr Blair had strongly supported the decision to break off aid and relations to Hamas unless it agreed to recognise the State of Israel and renounce violence.

Mr Blair said he now believed the international community should have attempted to "pull Hamas into a dialogue".

Over the past two years Mr Blair has held a series of meetings with Khaled Meshaal, former political director of Hamas, in Doha.

Hamas recently changed its charter, recognising the PLO as the national framework for the Palestinian people and accepting the borders of June 4 1967 for a Palestinian state.

Mr Straw has previously faced criticism from Jewish organisations over alleged comments about the power of the Israel lobby in America and a claim that Germany was unwilling to criticise the Israeli government.