Democracy...Nul Point

The elevation of Catherine Ashton to Foreign Secretary of EU almost re-defines the phrase 'risen without trace'. Since re-placing Peter Mandelson as the UK Commissioner last summer, she has failed to make a single headline through word or deed.

I now realise anonymity and an absence of political conviction are actually positive qualifications for high office in EU where in any other Governmental body it would be a massive hindrance.

It was left to the pompous but effective Nigel Farrage of UKIP to relay le mot juste, "Baroness Ashton is ideal for the role. She has never had a proper job and never been elected to public office."

Not so, says our Cath who countered with a novel argument on her own political legitimacy, "27 elected heads of state have had a say and they all decided on me," she said. She added, with a straight face, she was, "the best person for the job."

One supposes this ludicrous compromise was some kind of sop to make up for not picking Tony Blair as EU President. But this undignified horse-trading owes more to the transparent biases of a Eurovision song contest than a 21st Century democratic institution.

She may resemble a cross between Margaret Beckett and Joyce Grenfell but that is where her noteriety ends. At least she has not said anything of note, ever. The President of the EU, Herman von Rompuy has made clear he opposes Turkey's entry into EU, such solid opinions on specific political realities are rarely expressed at such levels in the EU.

But ultimately these nobodies were chosen as their presence on the world stage could never over shadow the main players, Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy. Their puffed-up egos are in tact and their positions in the EU hierarchy unassailable.