Tony Blair was named for the first time as the Government's candidate for President of the European Council today. Confirming that Britain is pushing Mr Blair's case for a dramatic return to frontline politics, Baroness Kinnock, the Europe Minister, said that Mr Blair's "strength of character" made him the ideal person for the job created under the Lisbon Treaty. Mr Blair himself has avoided declaring his hand or openly campaigning ahead of the decision on the new high-profile post, which is expected to be made by heads of the EU governments at their summit in late October if the Lisbon Treaty passes a second referendum in Ireland on October 2. The former Prime Minister is currently working as a special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet of the UN, US, EU and Russia.
Tony Blair was named for the first time as the Government's candidate for President of the European Council today.
Confirming that Britain is pushing Mr Blair's case for a dramatic return to frontline politics, Baroness Kinnock, the Europe Minister, said that Mr Blair's "strength of character" made him the ideal person for the job created under the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Blair himself has avoided declaring his hand or openly campaigning ahead of the decision on the new high-profile post, which is expected to be made by heads of the EU governments at their summit in late October if the Lisbon Treaty passes a second referendum in Ireland on October 2.
The former Prime Minister is currently working as a special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet of the UN, US, EU and Russia.
The basic question being: is this serious?
The Stop Blair petititon is getting a surge in signatures today, although there were no references in the news, so I guess it's due to its good search engine profile.
That is the number of people who have signed an online petition, run in recent weeks to protest against the idea that Blair would be a suitable person to preside over the affairs of the EU.
An online petition has already appeared called "Stop Blair", which explains which authorities would be appointed to the EU president and why Blair should not perform such duties.
