This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28310707
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Lord Hill set to become UK's new EU Commissioner | Lord Hill set to become UK's new EU Commissioner |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| David Cameron has nominated Lord Hill, the leader of the House of Lords, to be the UK's next European Commissioner. | David Cameron has nominated Lord Hill, the leader of the House of Lords, to be the UK's next European Commissioner. |
| Lord Hill of Oareford is a former education minister with a relatively low profile outside Westminster. | |
| A number of former senior ministers were tipped for the role, including Andrew Lansley and Lord Howard. | A number of former senior ministers were tipped for the role, including Andrew Lansley and Lord Howard. |
| New European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is to name his top team in the coming weeks, awarding different job portfolios to different countries. | New European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is to name his top team in the coming weeks, awarding different job portfolios to different countries. |
| Lord Hill is a former public relations executive who worked for John Major during the 1990s, including as political secretary during the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty. | |
| The nomination comes at a key time, with Mr Cameron seeking to renegotiate the UK's membership of the EU if he wins the next election and hold a referendum on the issue in 2017. | |
| The peer's nomination will be presented by the prime minister to the European Council at a summit of the EU's 28 national leaders in Brussels on Wednesday. | |
| If approved by the European Parliament, Lord Hill will serve a five-year term until 2019. | |
| 'Able technocrat' | |
| The appointment was seen as an important indication of the prime minister's strategy in Europe, with eurosceptics in the Conservative Party urging him to pick someone who would take a tough line in negotiations. | |
| The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said Lord Hill was a "hugely able technocrat" who was extremely loyal to Mr Cameron but was likely to be regarded as "not eurosceptic enough" by many MPs. | |
| The BBC News channel's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said Mr Cameron had gone for a "Westminster insider" like Lord Hill, rather than a more high profile figure, because he wants "a man who can cut a deal". | |
| Lord Hill sought to resign from the government at the last major reshuffle in 2012 but was subsequently made leader of the House of Lords. | |
| Names linked with the EU role in recent weeks included David Willetts, who quit the government on Monday, former Commons leader Andrew Lansley and former Conservative leader Lord Howard. | |
| Mr Cameron's choice of Lord Hill as the UK's preferred candidate means that the government will avoid a by-election in the coming months. | |
| Lord Hill will succeed Lady Ashton, who was nominated by Gordon Brown in 2009 and subsequently got the job of as EU high commissioner for foreign affairs. | |
| However, he will not necessarily hold the same role with Mr Juncker set to award different portfolios - including the all-important economic ones - in the coming weeks. |