FOREIGN Secretary David Miliband went on the campaign trail for Tony Blair yesterday, “selling” the former prime minister’s European credentials to fellow EU foreign ministers.
After emerging at the weekend as a standard-bearer for Mr Blair as Europe’s first president, Mr Miliband was in Luxembourg sounding out colleagues about his chances.
The new job, created under the Lisbon Treaty, does not exist until the Czech president signs the document.
Momentum, however, is building behind Mr Blair as the right man for the job once the treaty comes into force.
EU leaders attending a summit in Brussels later this week are bound to discuss the plan behind the scenes, even though the issue is not on the formal agenda.
At a pre-summit meeting of Europe’s foreign ministers yesterday, Mr Miliband insisted a powerful Europe on the world stage needed a powerful figure to represent it.
Mr Miliband said it was a question of what kind of Europe everybody wanted.
“Europe needs a strong voice, and member states have to ask themselves if they want a powerful or a weak Europe. If they want to establish a strong European voice on the world stage, then the question becomes, who are the candidates?
“It would be good for Britain and for Europe if Mr Blair was that man.”
Some governments, however, are questioning the wisdom of giving such a role to a former prime minister from a country which is not part of the single currency, which has not joined the Schengen open borders system, and which has a long history of euro-scepticism.
There are also Mr Blair’s political decisions – not least joining Washington in going to war against Iraq, against the wishes of many European leaders.