PIO woman tipped to be on next European Commission

Indian-origin Baroness Shriti Vadera is likely to be appointed to the next European Commission with British Premier Gordon Brown considering her for a post in the body.

A minister in Lord Peter Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vadera (47) is backed by a strong lobby from current President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. This in recent weeks has largely boosted her chances of a five-year stint in Brussels, according to a report in The Times.

Barroso, who is set to serve a second term when the new body is finalised later this year, is urging Brown to nominate a female candidate, the report said quoting officials.

Vadera's appointment would, however, require the cooperation of Opposition Conservative leader David Cameron with one of Prime Minister Brown's controversial ministers if Tories win the next election.

If Vadera is appointed, it would cap an extraordinary career for the former adviser to the investment bank UBS, whose family fled from Uganda to Britain in 1972.

She became one of Brown's most powerful enforcers in her role as one of his special advisers in the Treasury and remains at the heart of his kitchen Cabinet.