UK's Blair would shun job as future EU president

London, June 16: The British officials dismissed reports today that Prime Minister Tony Blair could become the first full-time European Union president under a plan being put forward by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy. London's Financial Times newspaper said Sarkozy had discussed the possibility of Blair taking on the role with his EU counterparts ahead of a summit in Brussels on June 21-22.

''The prime minister has said quite clearly he would not go back into frontline politics,'' a spokesman at Blair's office said.

''This job doesn't actually exist, there's no clear evidence that it's going to exist in the near future.'' Blair is stepping down as prime minister on June 27 and finance minister Gordon Brown will take over.

The spokesman added: ''I'm sure Sarkozy has said if this job ever existed it should be you (Blair) that does it. But the short answer is this is a non-story.''

REUTERS

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