JACK Straw has been involved in a bizarre European war of words during a Brussels summit.

As he was accused of trying to prevent talks on a new European Constitution concluding successfully, Blackburn MP Mr Straw turned to the insect world to hit back and jokingly likened France and Germany to bloodsucking mosquitoes as they buzzed menacingly around a room of European foreign ministers.

His French counterpart Michel Barnier and the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had accused Mr Straw of adopting "salami tactics" and trying to neuter the constitution by extracting concessions slice by slice.

But Mr Straw complained: "There are some mosquitoes that only bite the British."

Stunned by this reference to the French and German resistance to British demands, Mr Fischer hit back: "They are pro-European mosquitoes."

Then in a reference to the British determination to keep their veto on issues like taxation, social security, criminal law, defence and foreign policy, Mr Barnier told Mr Straw: "We should beware tsetse flies that put Europe to sleep."

At the end of the session his two opponents presented Mr Straw with a bottle of mosquito repellent. Government sources said the exchange had been a good natured joke, but made clear Mr Straw was not going to back down on the key issues of national vetoes.