LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown still strongly supports Tony Blair to be European Union president, his spokesman said Monday, despite signs his chances have faded.
Brown's spokesman also denied that Downing Street was lobbying for Foreign Secretary David Miliband to be given the EU's top foreign policy job. Both roles are being created under the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty.
Brown himself, though, did not mention Blair by name when questioned by lawmakers at the House of Commons, saying the issue of the presidency should wait until the Czech Republic ratifies the Lisbon Treaty.
"The president of the council is not yet set up as a position, the Lisbon Treaty has not yet gone through," the premier told lawmakers. "Once the Lisbon Treaty has gone through, these are the matters that we can discuss."
David Cameron, Eurosceptic leader of the main opposition Conservatives, charged that Blair's bid was in "freefall", adding that the situation showed that "no cause is truly hopeless until the prime minister endorses it".
Earlier, Brown's official spokesman said the British premier would continue to campaign for Blair.
"If Tony Blair wishes to be a candidate, the prime minister is four if not five square behind him," the spokesman, who by convention is not named, told reporters.
Blair's chances of getting the job seem to have faded following last week's European summit, and consensus among the 27 EU nation states looks to be building around Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy instead.
Miliband has publicly ruled himself out of the top foreign affairs job although his stock seems to be rising in Brussels.
Brown's spokesman insisted it "simply isn't correct" to suggest that the prime minister's office at Downing Street is lobbying for Miliband, adding: "I think the position has been made very clear by the foreign secretary."
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