Britain drops Blair EU presidency bid

Ashton, currently in charge of trade at the European Commission, gets Brown's nomination ahead of his Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday dropped Tony Blair as his candidate for the job of European Union president, a Downing Street spokesman said.

Brown was one of eight socialist heads of government meeting to agree a common position on candidates for two new EU jobs ahead of a full Brussels summit, and the spokesman said the British premier realised Blair would not get the required backing during their talks.

- When it became clear that because of the various political considerations and varying views among the rest of the members (on Blair), then the prime minister made the forceful step of proposing Catherine Ashton for the high representative's position - the second key role, the spokesman said.

Ashton, currently in charge of trade at the European Commission, gets Brown's nomination ahead of his Foreign Secretary David Miliband -- originally the preferred choice for many among Brown's socialist partners.

But with the backing of eight European governments -- and convention dictating that the centre-left grouping essentially gets to choose the job of foreign policy supremo -- Brown gets to lay claim to major influence at the heart of a new-look Brussels set-up.

- We feel that it is in Britain's interests to play a major role in the new EU and don't forget this is a very important job -- not just for its political role but also for its defence role - the spokesman added.

- We are very pleased that our socialist partners agreed to put (Ashton) forward as our candidate. -

On who will now claim the top job, that of EU president, Downing Street said it was up to their centre-right partners to settle that decision -- putting Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy clearly in the driving seat.

- We have to see the candidates - the spokesman underlined - but it is now down to the EPP (the grouping of conservative-led countries) to make their decision. -