Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children UK, apologised to people upset by an award given to Tony Blair and said that the uproar had caused an “unnecessary distraction” from the charity’s humanitarian work.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today yesterday he said: “I’m sorry it has upset so many people it’s not really what we do at Save the Children. What we’re really doing is on the ground in Syria, the Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone. That’s the work we do and this has been a really unnecessary distraction.”

He explained that: “This was an award given by our sister organisation in the United States. It is a very different political context and we have had hardly any complaints there.”

And added that: “It was an award very specifically for Tony Blair’s efforts on Africa at two G8 summits in Birmingham and Gleneagles, not his wider legacy.”

Shortly after Save the Children US gave Blair the award an online petition launched calling for it to be withdrawn because of the legacy of the war in Iraq. That petition has gained almost 125,000 signatures and an internal letter from staff was signed by 500 people.

An email appearing to be from Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children International, which was circulated on social media, said the criticisim “touched a nerve close to our sense of identity” and that: “We are all frustrated and disappointed at the situation we are in.”

That email also revealed that Forsyth had been indirectly involved in deciding to give the award to Blair. Forsyth was previously employed by Blair to work on the Make Poverty History campaign during the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles.