Downing Street Says » Tony Blair

Asked whether the Prime Minister agreed with Glenys Kinnock that Tony Blair was the official Government candidate for the Presidency of the European Council, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the position on this was that we had always made clear that if Tony Blair chose to stand for President of the European Council, then of course the Government would support him.

Put that the Europe Minister had said that Tony Blair had been confirmed as the Government s candidate, the PMS said that it was a matter for Tony Blair as to whether he wanted to put himself forward as a candidate for President. It was also worth bearing in mind that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into force and would not do so until all countries had ratified it; a number of countries had not yet ratified it yet, but should that happen and if Tony Blair decided he wanted to stand as a candidate then of course we would support him.

Put that the Europe Minister had suggested that the Government had been talking to Tony Blair about becoming President, the PMS replied that of course the Prime Minister and other senior members of the Government talked to the former Prime Minister regularly about all sorts of issues as people would expect. Asked whether this announcement from the Europe Minister had come as a surprise, the PMS said he would not characterise this as an announcement; she was simply making clear that we would support Tony Blair as a candidate. Of course it was for Tony Blair to decide whether or not he wanted to stand.

Asked if the Europe Minister was wrong to say that the Government supported Tony Blair s candidature if that candidature did not exist, the PMS said that the Europe Minister was not wrong; it was for Tony Blair to decide whether or not he would want to put himself forward as a candidate and if he did that we would support him. Asked if there was some kind of process to it being announced, the PMS said that that was a matter for Tony Blair.

Asked if the Prime Minister would like Tony Blair to stand for the post and had he encouraged him at any point, the PMS said that it was the Prime Minister s view that Tony Blair would be a good candidate for any big international job, but it was a matter for Tony Blair to decide whether or not he wanted to put himself forward. Asked if Tony Blair had given the Prime Minister any indication that he was prepared to stand, the PMS said that people would not expect him to comment on private conversations between the Prime Minister and his predecessor.

Put that the PMS had said that Tony Blair would be a good candidate for any big international job and did the Prime Minister think that Tony Blair would be the best candidate, the PMS replied that Tony Blair would certainly be the candidate that we would give our full support to.

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» Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Tony Blair

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