Tony Blair lifted Catholic ban for Vatican ambassador post

FORMER prime minister Tony Blair railed against tradition to urge the appointment of the first Catholic as British ambassador to the Vatican, it was revealed yesterday.

Northern Ireland-born Francis Campbell was appointed British ambassador to the Holy See in 2005, making him the first Catholic to hold the post since the Protestant Reformation.

Mr Blair revealed to a BBC documentary interviewer how he believed that Mr Campbell, who had served as his private secretary, would be ideal for the job, but was shocked by the reaction of civil servants.

"One of the funny things about the Yes Prime Minister show is that, if you have actually done the job, you realise there is parody but, my goodness, it is parody close to truth," said the former PM.

"And one of the great Sir Humphrey moments was when the ambassadorship to the Holy See became vacant.

"I said 'Francis would be a great person to do that'. And they said 'Well, you know this, prime minister, but actually we don't really have this open to Catholics'."

Mr Blair added: "I said 'It's the Vatican. The Pope, he's a Catholic. You mean we actually as a matter of policy … say you can't have a Catholic … It's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard'."

He added: "So Francis was the first."

Diplomatic relations between the UK and the Vatican had only been restored in 1914 after a break of 350 years.

But in 1917 the Foreign Office ruled that Britain's representative "should not be filled with unreasoning awe of the Pope", so the job was always filled by a Protestant.