Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has indicated that he is willing to take up another post, saying that he is a public service guy.

Insisting that he had to quit Parliament to avoid being seen as a backseat driver to successor Gordon Brown, he writes: "I decided I had little option but to leave the UK political scene, at least for now."

In an interview for BBC Radio 5 Live, Blair said he would have taken the role of President of the European Commission if it had been offered.

The Mirror quoted him as saying: "I'm basically a public service guy. I'd have taken the European job if they'd offered it to me last year."

He added he would be "perfectly happy" to accept another full-time public service role.

An aide said the former PM was not interested in "standing for office again" but went on: "Tony still cares passionately about the Labour Party.

"There are a handful of jobs in politics that come up. I've no idea what the job could be but Tony's a public service person." (ANI)