José Sócrates, Portugal's Socialist prime minister-elect, has surprised the country by appointing a former conservative leader and outspoken critic of the US-led invasion of Iraq as foreign minister.

Diogo Freitas do Amaral, 63, founded the CDS-PP, Portugal's main conservative party, and was the losing rightwing candidate in a fiercely fought 1986 presidential election won by Mário Soares, the former Socialist leader.