IT’S UNPATRIOTIC NOT TO BACK PRESIDENT BLAIR, SAYS BROWN

Smaller countries worry that Mr Blair would water down their influence – as well as criticising his link to the Iraq war.

The deputy prime minister of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn said: “There is a link and there will remain a link for the coming generation between Iraq, Bush, and Tony Blair.

“Sometimes in politics you have to show that you can bring things together and not divide them. There are better candidates than Tony Blair, he has a lot of merits but on this point it’s a little bit complex.”

Fears grew yesterday when Mr Blair let it be known he would only be interested if it was a “big job” and not simply chairing meetings.

There also was no sign of the Conservatives easing their opposition.

Tory sources have warned Europe will face a “five-year war” with Britain if he is chosen by the 27 European heads of government.

A shadow cabinet minister said: “The message is clear – you can have President Blair and five years of internecine warfare with Britain over Europe; or you can have another president and a good working relationship.” Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said that the current debate about Mr Blair and the presidency showed British voters should have been given a say on the Lisbon Treaty establishing the president job.

He said: “If the job is that important, that is a major constitutional change and we should have had the referendum that we’ve all been arguing about for the last few years.”

Even Mr Blair’s former colleagues are showing reservations about him getting the plum £275,000 role.

Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke became the most senior Labour figure to speak out against Mr Blair. He said there could be no hope of a fresh start under him.

Instead of seeking the presidency, Mr Clarke said the Government should try to get a Briton installed as the EU foreign policy chief.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband would be an option, he said. But Mr Brown ruled that out yesterday.

Both jobs will be decided after the Lisbon Treaty is finally ratified, most likely in the middle of next month.

Meanwhile, the main business of the summit was on measures to help poor countries deal with global warming.

A Downing Street source said Britain was likely to contribute around £1 billion a year by 2020 to help them with the effects of climate change.

The total bill to European taxpayers is likely to be at least £27billion a year out of a total bill of around £90billion.