Blair's Euro Bid Gains Support

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has voiced his support for Tony Blair's bid to take the reins of Europe.

Mr Miliband said a Blair presidency would be "very good for Britain as well as very good for Europe".

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr, Mr Miliband said he could not understand the Tories' opposition to a former UK prime minister presiding over the European Council.

"In every other country they would be delighted if one of their former prime ministers was being nominated by governments around Europe."

Again dismissing media reports he himself was poised for a Euro post, Mr Miliband said: "I think it's very important for Europe that it has a strong figure in that [presidential] role."

"We need someone who, when he or she lands in Beijing or Washington or Moscow, the traffic does need to stop, the talks do need to begin at a very, very high level."

The position of a permanent European president will be created when the contentious Lisbon Treaty is fully ratified. At present, the role is rotated among European heads of government.

Mr Miliband said changes brought under the treaty were needed to ensure the world was not dominated by China and America.

He said the EU's leaders would eventually decide on the scope and depth of the presidential role.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also backed his predecessor for the job.

Mr Miliband will meet with counterparts in Brussels later this week.

There is no general consensus amongst leaders as to who should be installed as president, or the power the office could execute.

Some of the 27 EU member states have voice opposition to Mr Blair due to his links with the Iraq war, with some smaller countries already mounting 'Stop Blair' campaigns.

Tory Europe spokesman Mark Francois told The Times: "The British people do not like the Lisbon treaty and if it was used to impose Tony Blair as European president without the British people having a say it would only underline the treaty’s complete lack of democratic legitimacy."

(PR/BMcC)