Freedom Line Blog

And so Britain continues its decades-long decline in influence. The nation’s candidate to become the first President of Europe is likely defeated, with reports out of Brussels saying that Tony Blair lost because he and his island friends wanted the job too much.

But the anti-Blair front that has developed is merely the result of months of tactical errors by his campaigners. Not only did his envoys not win over Paris and Berlin, but they also, it seems, forgot about the need to get the EU’s smaller states behind them. “To us, it seemed like the game was all about the big boys. But that’s not the way that the EU works any more,” said one diplomat from a Baltic state. “We were not consulted even though we were aware of lobbying for Blair, which had started already way back in the summer, far earlier than anyone else.” The diplomat expressed surprise at this clumsy approach. “It’s very odd, as Tony Blair had a terrific team of EU advisers when he was in power, which is how he got so much done. But clearly that’s changed.”

The campaign for Mr. Blair also suffered from a brazenness that is not in tune with the more subtle approach to diplomacy á la Européenne. Compare Mr Brown’s manoeuvrings to the quiet but effective manoeuvrings of the Dutch team, who have managed to get their man in pole position just by working the EU’s diplomatic ropes like pros.

Lastly, the Blair campaign probably started too early, giving opponents too long to attack. “This is a game about the dark horses who come up at the last minute, not about the early frontrunners,” shrugged one official.”

No bother. Now it’s time to lay the groundwork to become the next UN Secretary General!

Although the official title would be “President of the European Union”, Tony Blair’s private campaign to become the face of the European bureaucracy recalls the mid-level horsetrading and indeterminate power structure of the Holy Roman Empire. According to Newsweek, no less than 27 heads of state will meet to confer the prestige of speaking on behalf of Europe to the world. As with the Habsburgs, Blair’s Catholicism, fluency in French, and ability to please several ethnic and geographical interests at once are smoothing the path towards becoming the next in a long line of Continental potentates.

As for the actual job description, it’s still unclear what Blair would be expected to do with the post. Who knows; perhaps he could find work for that other politician of the Baby Boom Generation that refuses to go away…