London - Former British prime minister Tony Blair Tuesday upheld his conspicuous silence in the EU presidency debate despite the outspoken backing he has received from the Labour government led by Gordon Brown. A spokesman for Brown said it was up to Blair to announce whether he wanted the job - to be created if and when the controversial Lisbon Treaty is ratified.
However, he denied a report in Tuesday's Guardian newspaper that Brown advisers had "taking soundings at senior levels" on behalf of a Blair candidacy.
The paper said senior Whitehall officials were "concerned" that Blair could "lose out" if he did not declare his intention ahead of an EU summit in Brussels later this week.
"If the treaty is ratified and if Tony Blair wishes to be a candidate for the role the Prime Minister has clearly said he will have his full support," Brown's spokesman said.
"Officials have not been asked to go and lobby for Tony Blair's candidacy, he added. ""Officials are not lobbying for Tony Blair for the presidency because he has not put himself forward as a candidate."
The spokesman also stressed that, as the post did not yet exist, there was not a detailed job description for it.
In his backing for Blair, Foreign Secretary David Miliband indicated this week that the former prime minister would see the job as "fulfilling a wide-ranging international ambassadorial role rather than one where he would just be "ticking off the agenda."
He said Blair himself was waiting for a clear definition of the job. "He, like me, is waiting to see what kind of person Europe wants," Miliband said.
But the Guardian said Blair's reluctance to campaign openly for the job was linked to fears that he might be "humiliated" owing to opposition to his candidacy in some fellow-EU states.
Meanwhile, Britain's Conservative opposition leader David Cameron Tuesday stressed that he would be opposed to a Blair candidacy - and to the creation of the post at all.
Cameron said that, if there were to be a president, it should not be someone who wanted to "build a big presidential role."
However, if the post should be established, he would "prefer someone who took a view that it was about being a chairman of the Council of Ministers, rather than some all-singing, all-dancing, all- acting president. And I think I can see what sort of president Tony Blair would be," said Cameron.
