The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, moved yesterday to dampen rumours that the United States was lobbying for the former Conservative defence minister Mr Michael Portillo to become the next NATO Secretary-General, but said he would not block his candidacy if he was nominated.
Mr Portillo's name has been publicly linked with the post in recent weeks as a possible successor to the present Secretary-General, Mr Javier Solana, who is leaving the post in November to head the European Union's defence and security department.
Mr Portillo, who lost his seat at the 1997 general election, is seen as an Atlanticist who believes in maintaining the strong links between the North American members of the Nato alliance and its European counterparts. His appointment would therefore be seen as a counterbalancing influence just as the EU raises its defence profile.
"Of course to have a British candidate would be a good thing," Mr Blair told BBC 1's Breakfast with Frost programme. "Of course I would not block him . . . I hadn't heard this particular thing but I think we'll wait and see what candidates really emerge for that."
The speculation about Mr Portillo's candidacy was "a bit of a mystery to me", Mr Blair said, but he then hinted at another British candidate - the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown - for the job of EU High Representative to Kosovo.
Mr Ashdown will step down as party leader this summer and Mr Blair said he believed his "immense experience and a very, very fine track record in relation to Kosovo and indeed Bosnia" meant he could be nominated for the post, though he did not wish to speculate.
When he was asked later for his comment, Mr Ashdown said he had not been approached about the post and had no further statement.
Meanwhile, Mr Blair has again called on the public to keep an open mind about genetically modified food, insisting that a ban would risk Britain's leading role in GM technology. Speaking on the same programme he said: "Britain is at the leading edge of this new technology, particularly in relation to medicines. It could indeed be the leading science of the 21st century. All I say to people is just keep an open mind and let us proceed according to genuine scientific evidence."
And he again attacked the media's treatment of the subject, declaring that it would be a mistake to ban GM food on the basis of "pretty sensational" reporting. After speaking on the programme, Mr Blair was reported as saying he had "agreed to disagree" with the Prince of Wales on GM food.
The prime minister insists he is not an advocate of GM food but has generally favoured a wait-and-see approach, while Prince Charles is deeply suspicious of this new science and publicly questioned its validity in a newspaper article last week. The Environment Minister, Mr Michael Meacher, was however more sceptical than the prime minister yesterday when he said there were "very great uncertainties" about GM food. The medical and scientific benefits were ready to be discovered, he said, but he told GMTV: "We need to continue monitoring and regulating in the most stringent way to be absolutely sure."