!x*@ the Brits! They want the top job for Blair, but they won’t get it
New book tells how Sarkozy wrecked Blair's dream of becoming Euro President after furious row with Brown
By Simon Walters
Last updated at 12:36 PM on 28th November 2010Gordon Brown ruined Tony Blair’s dream of becoming President of Europe by provoking a blazing row with Nicolas Sarkozy.
The French President was so angry that he refused to take phone calls from Mr Brown. His attitude from that moment on was said to be ‘**** the Brits’.
Mr Sarkozy later avenged Mr Brown and ‘poisonous’ Peter Mandelson by grabbing for France a Brussels post that Mr Brown had desperately wanted to fill with a Briton.
Sacre Blair: French President Nicholas Sarkozy and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown cursed each other over Tony Blair's bid to become leader of the European Council
It led to foul-mouthed rants by Mr Brown at Britain’s EU foreign envoy, Baroness Ashton, and the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. The latter was so enraged he lodged a formal complaint against Mr Brown.
The extraordinary account of Mr Brown’s disastrous attempt to secure for Mr Blair the role of first President of the European Council is contained in a new book by Dr Anthony Seldon.
Mr Brown, who was Prime Minister at the time, backed Mr Blair despite fears that his predecessor could upstage him. But the move was doomed after an acrimonious meeting between Mr Brown and Mr Sarkozy at his official residence, the Elysee Palace, in Paris last year.
Mr Sarkozy agreed to support Mr Blair’s candidacy, but in return wanted Mr Brown to agree that the post of EU Commissioner for internal markets and City affairs should go to France. Mr Brown bluntly refused.
Rivals: The competition between Baroness Ashton and Lord Mandelson did not help the UK's quest for top posts within the EU
In his book, Brown At 10, Dr Seldon writes: ‘When Brown met Sarkozy at the Elysee it went very badly. “Let’s both support Blair, but what I really want is the internal market commissioner ourselves,” Brown opened.
‘Sarkozy was struck dumb. “I wanted that for France,” he said.
‘ “No, no, it’s got to be a Brit,” Brown responded.
‘Sarkozy decided from that point on, “**** the Brits. They want everything. They want Blair for top job. They want the internal market commissioner, and they won’t have it.”
‘Sarkozy stopped returning Brown’s calls and made it known that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had withdrawn their backing for Blair.’
PM'S ANGUISH AT MISSPELT NAME OF GRIEVING MOTHER
The full extent of Gordon Brown’s turmoil at misspelling the name of the grieving mother of a dead soldier is disclosed in Dr Seldon’s book.
The agonised then Prime Minster wrote the name of Jacqui Janes again and again trying to work out why he had spelt it as ‘James’ in a handwritten letter of condolence.
Guardsman Jamie Janes, 20, died in Helmand in Afghanistan in October last year. Ms Janes called the letter a ‘hastily scrawled insult’.
Dr Seldon says that Mr Brown was in his flat in Downing Street late one evening when he was told of the row.
He immediately phoned the duty clerk downstairs at No 10 and asked him to bring up a photocopy of the letter.
‘ “There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said, bringing it close to his eyes and turning it over and over in his hands.’Days later, Mr Brown, who is blind in one eye and blamed his poor handwriting for the error, was ‘visibly anguished’ as he sat on a plane returning from a trip to Germany.
‘He buried his head in his hands before brandishing his thick black pen, writing out the name “Janes” over and over again to convince himself "it was just my writing”, and he hadn’t really made the mistake.’
In public Mr Brown said he was ‘sorry’ and his words were ‘sincerely meant’.
He also referred to the death of his baby daughter Jennifer in 2002, saying: ‘I feel the pain of people who lose loved ones.’
Dr Seldon says that Mr Brown became ‘obsessed’ with getting the trade post for the UK to stop it going to France, while using Mr Blair’s candidacy as a bargaining chip. By dithering, he got neither.
The Brown-Sarkozy feud flared again when Baroness Ashton was given the job of EU High Representative, the foreign affairs portfolio.
Lord Mandelson, bitter at being beaten to the job by Baroness Ashton, was accused of ‘feeding poison to the French Press’ about France getting the internal markets job.
In a last-minute U-turn, Mr Brown told Baroness Ashton to trade her foreign envoy role in order to secure the internal markets slot for the UK.
Mr Barroso told her that if Mr Brown could persuade Mr Sarkozy to agree, it was still possible. But Mr Brown refused to call the French President.
Moreover, Lord Mandelson’s anti-French antics threatened to wreck everything, Mr Barroso told Baroness Ashton.
Dr Seldon writes: ‘The French snapped. Sarkozy’s blood was now fully up and, in the face of Brown’s express wishes, he nominated Michel Barnier, the former French Foreign Minister. This was Brown’s worst nightmare. Sarkozy immediately declared his appointment a “victory”.’
Now it was Mr Brown’s turn to explode.
‘He felt betrayed by Barroso and became so angry he lost all self-possession,’ reveals Dr Seldon.
‘He phoned Ashton and demanded she intervene personally to change Barroso’s mind. “I cannot do that,” she said. “It’s a done deal, he promised it to Sarkozy.”
‘Brown ranted at Ashton for 20 minutes, with a stream of abuse and profanities before he ended the phone call.
‘He then phoned Barroso to remonstrate. It was the most offensive exchange he had with a foreign leader in three years as Premier.
‘Again, he swore repeatedly down the telephone and shouted at Barroso, accusing him of betrayal.’
A ‘still-shaken Barroso’ summoned Sir Kim Darroch, Britain’s senior mandarin at the EU, to complain.
Dr Seldon says: ‘Brown and Barroso barely spoke again. In a move deliberately designed to provoke Brown, Sarkozy said, “The English are the big losers”.’
Friday 3 December 2010
Sarkozy wrecked Tony Blair's dream of Euro President after row with Gordon Brown | Mail Online
via dailymail.co.uk
