Blair launches broadside at 'dictator' Chirac

Tony Blair fired a blistering attack at Jacques Chirac today, accusing the French president of trying to dictate to the rest of Europe.

In unusually brutal language, he charged President Chirac with treating countries including Britain as "second-class" states and acting as though only France and Germany mattered.

Mr Blair was almost equally tough with German chancellor Gerhard Schrˆder, named and shamed for using "unfortunate" tactics at the Brussels summit. His official spokesman - referring to French and German efforts to impose their choice as the new president of the European Commission - said no country should order the others around.

"We accept it is not for us to dictate who is the next president," said the spokesman. "Equally that is not for others to do. What we all have to accept is we are now in a Europe of 25 - not of six, or two, or one."

No one at today's summit was left in any doubt about the target of Mr Blair's assault, scripted after a night pondering a tirade by President Chirac at a dinner for the 25 leaders last night.

The pair later squared up in a "heated" confrontation, diplomatic sources revealed. Mr Chirac was accused of bullying and insulting

leaders of small countries who refused to support him against Mr Blair.

Mr Blair's counter-attack today appeared to be an open challenge to Franco-German dominance of the EU, and a bid to rally the newly joined former eastern bloc states.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said Britain both wanted a deal in Brussels today and believed one was possible.

But he described it as "unfortunate" that Mr Chirac "chose to attack our position before the negotiations had really begun". It was also "unfortunate that Mr Schrˆder had "appeared to link the issues of the presidency and the [EU constitution] treaty".

Turning to Mr Chirac's flat rejection of Britain's Chris Patten as commission president, on the grounds that Britain is not in the euro zone, Mr Blair's spokesman added witheringly: "There are no first-class or secondclasscitizens of Europe. We are all equal members of the European club."

No10 was braced for Chirac's revenge during crunch talks today, with Britain standing firm to protect concessions covering taxation and social security.

The row escalated after Mr Chirac accused Mr Blair of provoking crises on two fronts, by torpedoing Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt - the French and German favourite for head of the commission - and by refusing to give ground on the planned constitution.

He marched into dinner determined to see Mr Verhofstadt, who favours tax harmonisation and led opposition to the Iraq war, crowned president. Mr Blair - backed by Italy, Portugal and a range of newly-joined states - rejected the arch-federalist Belgian.

The row marks another low in Mr Blair's relationship with Mr Chirac, who is said to resent the younger man's attempts to smash the Franco-German stranglehold on European decision-making.

Irish premier Bertie Ahern, chairing the summit, admitted in the early hours: "We have had one long day. Now we face another. I am not over-optimistic about getting a deal overall."