Poor Tony Blair – sabotaged by his own countryman. Just weeks ago, Mr Blair looked like the frontrunner to be president of the European Union. But now William Hague, Britain's shadow foreign secretary, has let the rest of Europe know that the opposition Conservative party would regard his appointment as a “hostile gesture”. Since the Tories and Mr Hague are likely to be in government by the middle of next year, after a British general election, their views have real weight. Charles Grant, head of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, says: “On my travels around Europe . . . I have found that Hague's comments have made a huge impact.” Mr Blair's candidacy has been badly damaged.
可憐的東尼•布萊爾(Tony Blair)遭到自己同胞的攻擊。就在數週前，布萊爾似乎還是歐盟(EU)主席的熱門人選，但現在英國影子內閣外交大臣威廉•黑格(William Hague)已經昭告歐洲其它所有國家，稱反對黨保守黨將把對布萊爾的任命視爲「敵意舉動」。鑑於保守黨和黑格在明年年中大選後可能上臺組閣，他們的觀點頗具分量。智庫機構歐洲改革中心(Centre for European Reform)主任查爾斯•葛倫(Charles Grant)表示：「我在歐洲各地行走期間……發現黑格的言論產生了巨大的影響。」布萊爾的候選人形象已經遭到嚴重破壞。