Blair nearly quit to seek presidency of European Commission, Campbell says

Tony Blair came to the brink of resigning as prime minister in the hope of being named president of the European Commission, it is revealed today.

Blair, who was “ground down” by conflicts with Gordon Brown, had begun to sound out other European leaders for support, such as Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder, the then president of France and Chancellor of Germany, according to Alastair Campbell.

The possibility of leaving Downing Street, which is said to have taken place in 2004, is contained in the latest volume of Campbell’s diaries, Outside, Inside, 2003-2005.

“A lot of the time the press exaggerated our difficulties,” Campbell told The New European, which is Campbell’s book, his fifth set of memoirs on Downing Street.

“This was one period where, if anything, they underplayed them because they didn’t know just how bad things were.

“This was the closest Tony got to leaving and at the time I was terrified it would get out because it was one of those stories that would have taken on its own momentum.

“Tony had pretty much had enough and was being ground down by Gordon. In the end he realised that and decided he had to stay and see it though.

“Then came another on-off saga when he decided he was going to sack Gordon.”

Campbell himself stepped down as media chief in 2003 but returned to help out in the run-up to the 2005 election. Blair won a 66-seat majority before Brown took over two years later.

Campbell has since devoted himself to writing, including publishing a novel, campaigning for greater public awareness of mental health problems, and running marathons in aid of several charities.