The EU: Britain is prepared to accept the creation of a European foreign minister in the EU's new constitutional treaty, after dropping its objections to the job title.
The Conservatives attacked an "abject surrender" after the British government decided it could live with the name as long as the minister is not bound by the European Commission.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, had previously rejected the title "minister" as implying the existence of a European government.
But Mr Denis MacShane, Britain's Europe minister, said on the eve of the launch of the intergovernmental conference: "We think that 'EU foreign representative' is a better title, but it's not going to be a major make-or-break issue."
Mr Michael Ancram, the Conservatives' foreign affairs spokesman, attacked the climbdown. "Once again at the first whiff of pressure from those who wish to see a European superpower emerge this government has caved in," he said.
The new post is intended to give the EU greater clout on the world stage after its bitter divisions over Iraq.
It will combine the jobs held by Mr Chris Patten, the commissioner for external relations, and Mr Javier Solana of Spain, the foreign policy and security chief, who answers to member-states.
Britain is insisting, however, that the minister, though a member of the Brussels commission, will still be answerable to national governments.
This is the first in a series of shifts that the UK government is signalling to secure its broad goals in negotiations to finalise the text drawn up by Valery Giscard-d'Estaing's European convention in the summer. But it will conduct the talks with one eye on the Conservatives and UK's eurosceptic press, which have attacked the draft constitution as a "blueprint for tyranny".
The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, joining other leaders for the launch in the Italian capital today, is continuing to resist calls from opponents and some of his own backbenchers for a referendum on the outcome, arguing that a limited "tidying-up exercise" does not warrant one.
Mr Ancram said a referendum should be held. "It is absolutely right that the people of this country should have a right to say Yes or No," he told BBC Radio. "The government has copped out on this. They have decided they've sold out on this and they are not going to see much change. They are just going to go through the motions."
One of Britain's concerns is to ensure that moves towards an EU defence policy - where appetites have been boosted by Iraq - do not damage Nato. It is already quietly negotiating with France and Germany over this.
It is insisting, too, on retaining the national veto on tax, social security and procedural criminal law, and will oppose calls for a European public prosecutor. But Mr Blair has agreed to move to majority voting on immigration to facilitate the formulation of an EU-wide policy.
Britain is far from alone in having objections to the draft, and it will be able to find allies on many issues.
"We are 90 per cent to 95 per cent there already," an optimistic Mr MacShane said. "If it goes on and on it will turn off voters. They don't want months and months of constitutional navel- gazing." - (Guardian Service)