JACK Straw flew out of Britain this morning to tackle a European Union crisis on his first full working day as Foreign Secretary.
The Blackburn MP was in Luxembourg for the meeting with his counterparts as they tried to salvage the enlargement of the EU.
The plan to bring in up to a dozen more countries has been thrown into crisis by Ireland's rejection of the Treaty of Nice authorising the changes in a referendum.
Now Mr Straw has found that his first EU meeting is not a routine opportunity to introduce himself but a major summit on how to put enlargement back on track.
The central and European countries waiting to sign up to the EU remain determined to join and the European Commission has said there is plenty of time to rescue the deal.
But the treaty involves major changes to the way the EU operates including cutting the number of commissioners, limiting the number of Euro MPs and opening up more policy areas to majority voting rather than requiring all member states to agree.
The Blackburn MP will have to try and repair the damage while fending off any new attempt to extend majority decision making to tax and other sensitive areas.
Over the weekend Mr Straw promised that his globe trotting new cabinet job would not affect his work in Blackburn.
He said: "Being Foreign Secretary will make big changes, but I am not sure what they will be until I have been in the job.
"I intend to continue to represent very effectively the people of Blackburn. The job will not change that.
"After being re-elected on Thursday, my first responsibility is to the people of Blackburn who put me in parliament."
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