Who's lobbying for Blair?

Andre

Brown knows he may lose the next election - this is his revenge against a putative ungrateful electorate: Blair as president of a strengthened Europe, Cherie as premiere mignon and Lord Kirkcaldy as ministre d'argent de poche

Andre

Brown knows he may lose the next election - this is his revenge against a putative ungrateful electorate: Blair as president of a strengthened Europe, Cherie as premiere mignon and Lord Kirkcaldy as ministre d'argent de poche

Ian Walker

Now we know what Blair meant by "serving a full term." He just didn't clarify which office he was going to serve in......

DavidDP

Hmm. You could make a case for it being lobbying on Britain's behalf I suppose. Which would be acceptable.

But, Ceasar's wife and all that.

Angry old man

Andre you should replace the word "May" with, will! and the reason the Labour party will not have any influence in British politics for a long, long time, is due entirely to Blair.
Some enterprising person could make a fortune by producing a DVD of Blair 'gaffs and embarrasing moments, such as the reception at the W.I. and being confronted by the lady outside the Birmingham hospital.
I would pay good money to have a record of these unforgetable moments, when the self styled Master of the Universe visibly squirmed. Blair was a disaster for Britain, and was no better as a U.N. envoy in the Middle East.
Blir and Cherry must be missing the limelight they desperately crave in order to promote their lucrative lifestyles.

Naomi Muse

Appalling! Hopefully the Kelly reforms will uncover this expenditure as being party political and therefore payable totally by the Chief Lord of the Treasury, personally or from Labour coffers!

No high ideals here! Proof of expendiency ruling as far as the manse in Kirkcaldy is concerned.

MisterE

Who's paying the cost of all this lobbying?
I hope it's the Labour party themselves, and not the British taxpayer...

Vulture

I wish I could share your confidence that Bliar will not become President, Peter. But I feel in my bones that its somehow inevitable. Its the sort of stinking stitch-up that our ruling elite is so adept at finessing.

The silver lining, of course, is that it will finally expose the EU as the undemocratic corrupt racket that it is - with the king of corruption, deceit and mendacity as its head. The twoi will fit very well. It will thus speed the day when the whole rotten edifice collapses - hopefully when this country has already exited.

Meanwhile, I recommend CH readers who have not already done so to read Robert Harris's superb thriller 'The Ghost'. The work of a (very) disillusioned former worshipper at Bliar's shrine, this has its Bliar-like hero coming to a sticky end. The only unbelieveable bit is that the hero has a shag with gthe ex-PM's wife and apparently enjoys the experience. We can only hope that reality will ape fiction.
Where IS Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?

saddleworth

Someone with no fundamental belief in democracy representing an organisation that loathes democracy. A marriage made in hell

Rhoda Klapp

Are you saying we can't have a UK president of europe because we are 'peripheral'?

Time to quit. If we aren't accepted, let's take our money away.

Rhoda Klapp

I'd be willing to accept Blair though, with one proviso. He can't have the job until he has delivered peace in the middle east (and not the Genghis Khan kind).

Dorothy Wilson

Actually, I saw the Milipede's intervention as an application for the job of high rep or whatever it is called.

Andre

If we are all EU citizens then it shouldn't matter which member state the president comes from - but he/she should be chosen by popular vote. How about Daniel Hannan or Vaclav Klaus?

denis cooper

Checking what the new treaties would say about the President of the European Council, it's clearly stated that he "shall not hold a national office", ie a public office in an EU member state, but nowhere is it actually stated that he must be a national or citizen of one of the EU member states.

So the ideal solution might be to get Blair installed, then leave the EU and at the same time leave him behind in his new job, the job he's been craving for all these years ...

Article 15 of the TEU as it would be amended, on pdf page 11 here:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:115:0013:0045:EN:PDF

in case anybody wants to read up about it.

mac

"Who's lobbying for Blair?" Mandelson, surely, and all as part of the sordid deal that brought him back to Westminster as unelected Lord High puppetmaster-in-Chief. Brown's teeth must be clenchingly gritted to have to 'recommend' Blair.

David Lindsay

Is Taki still a Greek citizen? Taki for EU President.

Boudicca

Brown knows he will need a job in a few months and since making such a balls-up of the UK economy, his chances at the IMF/World Bank have gone south.

That leaves the EU. With Merkel and Sarkozy laughing at the state of the UK economy and Brown's pathetic attempt to pretend that the UK was in the best possible position to recover from the recession, he needs Blair in post to appoint him to a 'suitable' post. Then the feuding can start all over again - but in a bigger pond.

With Blair in post, we need one contract out - with Brown, two. Where's The Jackal?

Maggie

Blair, Miliband and the entire Labour government have been in office so long now they have become completely divorced from reality. Blair was never anything but a mediocre PM. He global posturing and international globetrotting were never anything but an embarrassment. His insincerity and ham acting were always cringeworthy. He believed that rich men and foreign Heads of State spoke to him because he was Tony Blair when in fact they spoke to him only because he was Prime Minister - he never could tell the difference between diplomacy and friendship.
He is so deluded that he believes his own publicity. When tame journalists regurgitate "Tony for President" press releases and PR issued by spin doctors he's the only person in the country who believes any of it.
If we are to have a President of Europe we need a towering intellect who is beyond reproach. Tony Blair is a third rate chancer who wasn't even up to the job of Prime Minister.

Frank P

Boudicca

The Jackal?? Bugger that! Whether you mean Freddie Forsyth's fictional one, or the real one - Carlos the Jackal - they both failed in their ultimate mission. Get someone who can succeed, because he/she has a much bigger global cabal of wicked bastards to sort out now, starting with 'The One'. Our puny pricks are small beer by comparison. And once again I must ask our hosts - why have you all abandoned the US political arena? Is it because you now realise backed the wrong horse, or is the race still on and you still don't want your nag nobbled or even draw attention to his progress towards re-election?

Maggie

It has been suggested that a woman should be nominated for President. Angela Merkel would be very good. Unlike Blair, she is competent, businesslike, effective, responsible and trustworthy. She is interested in doing the best job possible for the people she represents.
Blair on the other hand is a vacuous celeb with no discernable interest in anything other than his own aggrandisment.

Moraymint

Heaven preserve us if this poseur ever gets into that job.

What did he ever do for the UK?

Why would he be any less pointless and useless as President of the EU?

And I wonder what the Bilderberg Group thinks of all this (http://tinyurl.com/pu6fu6)?

Ivy Eileen

@ Maggie -

"Blair on the other hand is a vacuous celeb with no discernable interest in anything other than his own aggrandisment".

pitch perfect comment.

Luke

Are you seriously suggesting that British civil servants lobbying for a former british prime minister to take a key post in europe is party political activity?

Simply an astonishing claim!!

David Lindsay

Moraymint, George Osborne is a Bilderberger. How serious can they possibly be?

Nigel T Packer

Why are civil servants canvassing for a job for a politician at the tax payers’ expense? Will they help mothers in the job seekers line? Thanks to this government Britain isn’t working so go to Europe for a job!

Ian

Why does Brown support Blair's appointment? Because it benefits him. Why? Because it will transfer attention in the run up to the election onto issues related to Europe and this is the one issue which could really cause problems to the current cohesion of the Tories. And Brown is willing to exploit any advantsge even if it means supporting his "dearest friend" Tony.

TomTom

According to Der Spiegel Blair has no hope. In his private meetings around Europe he has demanded the right to keep his 'nice little earners' as outside interests because he could not live on the 300,000 Euro salary.

This is over and above his image as a self-promoter and charlatan. No doubt British taxpayers will offer to boost his income to £5 million a year so he can make us all feel good about being suckered again

Maggie

The spectacle of tacky marketing men haunting European capitals on the undignified Blair's behalf and trying to sell him like a lump of tripe is yet another humiliation that he has heaped on the UK.

Even Mandelson appears to have given up on Blair and is now applying his malign skills on behalf of Miliband. These megalomaniacs think they have a divine right to rule even in the absence of a mandate . They have no intention of accepting defeat after the General Election whatever the British electorate may say and are actively plotting to Lord it over us from Brussels.

Mazza1230

I should imagine that, come May, both these clearly politicised Civil Servants will be seeking alternative employment.

Fergus Pickering

Well of course it's party political, Luke, since the Tory Party have made it clear they don't want the lying bastard - and I am sure they carry three-quarters of the British people with them on this one. What do YOU think? Assuming that you allow yourself to, think I mean.

Snowman

Blair will land it because he fits the fold. The Commission's made up of failed politicians from the member countries, he'll feel very much at home.

Holly ......

I work in the civil service and this kind of work could come under the umbrella of the official secrets act.They are bound to have signed it...are they not?
What exactly are they saying? and to who?

Andy

I don't think there's any "may" about Blair becoming El Presidente. After all, he gave away our rebate to prove his pro-EU credentials (don't see any reform of the CAP on the horizon, do you, so clearly that was just a pretext). Miliband is angling for EU Foreign Minister. One thing about it, if El Gordo gets a post at the ECB, the EU will be bankrupt in no time and we might be able to get out and run our own lives again.

Graham Clark

Whose lobbying for B'Liar, the Grining Fool? Nobody I do hope.

Even if the Sainted Teflon is elected to the post of 'First Amongst Equals' of the EU-SSR-Land-Land Presidency. He will cut a lonely figure.

In the end, will History be kind to the like of Blair, Brown, Mandelson etc over the failed 'Experiment' of New Labour's One-Size-Fits-All "Third Way" nonsense. Will this Labour government go down with a crash jsut like its predecessor under Callaghan and Healey?

In my opinion, the New Labour Party (Neues Arbeit Partie) is the worst post WW2 UK government ever. Blair and Brown are possibly the worst PMs ever as well.

That really take some beating!!!