Brown ready to back Blair's EU bid

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The Prime Minister was said to be ready to start lobbying for support among other EU leaders if Mr Blair throws his hat into the ring as a candidate.

The move comes as Tory leader David Cameron underlined his fierce opposition to Mr Blair becoming president of the European Council, just months before a general election which could see a return to power for the Conservatives.

"I don't think we should be having a president at all. I think Europe is going too far in creating the emblems of statehood rather than being about cooperation and co-ordination," he told a Westminster news conference on Tuesday.

"That said, if we absolutely have to go in that direction I 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."

The speculation that Mr Blair could assume the role of president has heightened as it appears the Czech Republic - the one member state yet to ratify the Lisbon Treaty which creates the post - is now close to formally accepting it.

Earlier, No 10 denied suggestions that it had already begun lobbying for support for Mr Blair after The Guardian reported that two senior officials - No 10 aide John Cunliffe and EU ambassador Kim Darroch - had already begun "taking soundings" on his behalf.

"Officials have not been asked to go to lobby for Tony Blair's candidacy," the Prime Minister's spokesman said. "Officials are not lobbying for Tony Blair for the presidency because he has not put himself forward as a candidate."

The disclosure now that Mr Brown is prepared to actively campaign on behalf of his predecessor, comes amid signs of impatience in No 10 that Mr Blair has yet to declare his intentions.

The former prime minister, however, is reported to be reluctant to campaign openly, fearing that he could suffer a humiliating rebuff at the hands of EU leaders whose votes will decide who the president will be.