LONDON, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - The long-running feud between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair threatened to reignite Sunday after a new book detailed claims of foul-mouthed rows between the pair.

The fractious relationship between the former and current prime minister has made headlines ever since Labour came to power in 1997, amid claims that Brown was increasingly unhappy at Blair reneging on a deal to hand over power sooner.

LISBON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Former British premier Tony Blair would be a good choice as the European Union's first full-time president, French and British leaders said Friday while stressing that the job is not yet on offer.

Blair's successor Gordon Brown praised Blair's current role as international Middle East envoy, and said he would be a strong candidate for any similar high-profile role including the new EU job.

LONDON, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - Former British prime minister Tony Blair is 'extremely concerned' over the impact his wife's upcoming book will have on his relationship with his successor Gordon Brown, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Cherie Blair's publisher said earlier this month that she had struck a deal to publish 'a warm, intimate and often very funny portrait of a family living in extraordinary circumstances.'

BOURNEMOUTH, England, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday paid tribute to his predecessor Tony Blair, in a keynote speech three months after taking office following years of strains between the two.

In his first speech as leader to the governing Labour Party's annual conference, he praised Blair's involvement in the Middle East peace process 'and the debt we owe as a country and a party to (his) leadership.'

LONDON, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Cherie Blair, the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, has struck a deal to publish 'a warm, intimate' and funny memoir of her family's life in politics, her publisher said Wednesday.

Cherie Blair, who uses her maiden name Booth in her career as a human rights lawyer, will see her memoir hit the shelves in October 2008, said publishing house Little, Brown.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - International Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair arrived in Kuwait on Sunday as he kicked off a two-week regional tour ahead of a US-sponsored international peace conference later this year.

Blair, who was appointed the Quartet envoy in late June after stepping down from a decade as British prime minister, is due to travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt before arriving in Israel on Tuesday, his spokesman Matthew Doyle said in a statement.

LONDON, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Tony Blair has recruited an American lawyer and put him in charge of brokering a deal for his memoirs, sources close to the former prime minister told Britain's domestic Press Association Thursday.

The lawyer, Robert Barnett, previously negotiated a 12-million-dollar (8.9-million-euro) deal for ex-US president Bill Clinton's autobiography, 'My Life'.

Publishing insiders estimate that an autobiography by Blair, who left Downing Street on June 27 after 10 years in office, would fetch a similar amount.

EDINBURGH, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Critics often said former prime minister Tony Blair brought a touch of theatre to Downing Street, but now the tables have been turned thanks to two musicals at the Edinburgh Fringe devoted to him.

'Tony! The Blair Musical' and 'Tony Blair -- The Musical' both take an irreverent look at Blair's 10 years in power, barely six weeks after he stepped down and Gordon Brown took over the country's top job.

ZAGREB, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Former British prime minister Tony Blair first confessed his desire to convert to Roman Catholicism to a Bosnian Franciscan monk, a Croatian magazine reported Tuesday.

The friar, Mario Knezovic, told the Globus magazine that he spoke with Blair, who is currently an Anglican, at the prime minister's official residence, Downing Street, in early 2004.

LONDON, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - The head of the Metropolitan Police on Thursday denied lying over the killing of an innocent Brazilian man in the wake of the 2005 London bombings, but renewed an apology for the death.

Speaking shortly after the release of a long-awaited report, Sir Ian Blair also voiced his continuing support for a senior officer accused of misleading the public in the hours after Jean Charles de Menezes died on July 22, 2005.