Blair for UN top job?

Tony Blair ruled himself out of the running as the next secretary general of the United Nations as he sought yesterday to close down speculation about when he would quit as Prime Minister.

At his monthly press conference in Downing Street, he set out the challenges facing the Government, ranging from nuclear power to anti-social behaviour. London Daily Telegraph

That’s nice to know, but I didn’t even know he was asked. Apparently Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, told The Spectator this week that Mr Blair would go "well before the next election" and would then take "a very important role on the world stage".

But it does put the current stoush between UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown and the feisty Bolton into some perspective.