Buoyant Blair will try to win EU top job

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The ex-Premier hopes to become the £200,000-a-year president of the European Union, a new full-time post that replaces the rotating six-month presidency.

It emerged yesterday that leading Blairites - including James Purnell, Hazel Blears, Tessa Jowell and Alan Milburn - have pressed Mr Brown to be more radical in his fight with Tory leader David Cameron.

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Gordon Brown: Has the PM been forced to climb down as Tony Blair presses ahead with plans for a political comeback?

They claim that Mr Brown has been forced to accept a range of policy reforms introduced by his predecessor, notably on health and education.

But they want him to go further and promote an agenda "which is post-Blair, not anti-Blair".

EU leaders will decide later this year who to appoint president. Mr Blair has the support of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

But he faces fierce opposition due to his record on Iraq.

French socialist leader Francois Hollande, said: "We need a president who could be representative of a political Europe, a Europe independent from the United States and I don't think Tony Blair fits that profile."