London - Opposition was growing in Britain Saturday to the possibility of former prime minister Tony Blair becoming the first "president" of Europe, if the Irish vote "yes" in their referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The controversial treaty - already rejected once by the Irish voters in a referendum - would create a new post of President of the European Council, among other reforms.
Blair, who stepped down from office in 2007, has since been a Middle East peace envoy, and set up a faith foundation, but is strongly rumoured to be interested in becoming the first such EU president.
However, Britain's opposition Conservative party, meeting Sunday for their annual conference ahead of an election due by next May which opinion polls suggest will put them in government, have warned they will do everything possible to stop a Blair candidacy.
Foreign Affairs spokesman William Hague told the Times newspaper: There could be no worse way to sell the EU to the people of Britain."
Britain is already one of the EU's most eurosceptic states. Blair's role in backing the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is thought to count against him in Berlin and Paris, despite strong behind-the-scenes lobbying.
The result of the Irish referendum was expected later Saturday, with strong indications of a narrow victory for the 'yes' camp.
Although Ireland was the only one of the bloc's 27-member states to put the treaty to a referendum, a 'yes' vote would leave just Poland and the Czech Republic to ratify the treaty.
The controversial Lisbon Treaty was born out of the rejection by France and the Netherlands to a proposed constitution for the EU, which has expanded rapidly in recent years from 15 to 27 member states, after the accession of many former communist states in eastern Europe.
Among other measures, it creates the post of "president" and "high representative for foreign affairs" for the bloc as a whole, as well as ending national vetoes on many issues in favour of qualified majority voting.
