Tony Blair as President of Europe?

Just imagine, an unelected Prime Minister in the shape of Gordon Brown, and an unelected President of Europe, in the figure of Tony Blair. It doesn't bear thinking about. Yet there is a strong possibility that Mr Blair may become President of the European Union.

Given that the EU now inteferes in every nook and cranny of our life, President Blair would mean he would have an unacceptable influence on our domestic affairs. If the new Lisbon Treaty (the European Constitution comes to pass), it would give a President Blair significant powers over Britain, that would rival those of Gordon Brown.

I am glad that Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague has set out his thoughts on the matter:

Tony Blair and the EU Presidency

"Our point about this is that this would be unacceptable to the majority of people in Britain'. It would be a double denial of democracy because we would have a former prime minister returning to a position of influence and power over British affairs without any electoral mandate of any kind. If a figure like Tony Blair assumed the presidency of the EU, it would be Tony Blair who went off to visit the White House claiming to represent all the people of Europe, including Britain once again. "'Just when people thought they were free of that, that would be back and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.'" That remains exactly the position of the Conservative Party today. We are not, of course, in favour of the creation of the position of a permanent president of the European Council in the first place. It is also something of an academic question, because either the Lisbon Treaty will be in force if a Conservative Government is elected, in which case the Governments of the European Union will already have chosen a President of the European Council, or it will not be in force if a Conservative Government is elected, in which case it is unlikely ever to come into force since a Conservative Government would hold the referendum that people have always been promised and have been denied under Labour.