Was Cathy Ashton the best choice?
Updated on 20 November 2009
Baroness Ashton has never been elected, is a relative unknown and has risen from chairing Hertfordshire Health Authority to the EU's top foreign policy job in just eight years.
But Cathy Ashton has insisted that "quite a few people" believe she is the best person for the new role of EU foreign minister - a job she was nominated to do last night after horse trading by European leaders.
Channel 4 News has learned of similar horse trading among Gordon Brown's inner circle, with Lord Mandelson lobbying against Baroness Ashton because, his rivals believe, he wanted the job himself.
When Baroness Ashton was picked as Europe's new foreign minister last night, she was warmly congratulated by her European colleagues.
But many politicians across the world had little idea who she was or what she had done to deserve the plum job. It is not the first time she has been a surprise winner.
Three years ago she was named peer of the year by Channel 4. But if some in the audience struggled to identify her, she revealed her young daughter had no problem explaining what a baroness was.
Last night even Gordon Brown momentarily appeared to forget her name.
Cathy Ashton's CV has led some to question her credentials for the job: In the late seventies, she was working for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
In 1998, she became chair of the Hertfordshire Health Authority. The following year, she became a Labour life peer. In 2007, she was made leader of the lords in Brown's first cabinet, Then, just over a year ago, she took over as EU trade commissioner, after Lord Mandelson returned to UK politics.
But there are critics on her own side too. Channel 4 News can disclose that Lord Mandelson, who attended a cabinet meeting in the East Midlands today, is not a fan of Baroness Ashton, according to a senior government source.
A friend of hers claimed Lord Mandelson had been heard in Number 10 ferociously bending the prime minister's ear against her for one simple reason - he wanted the job himself.
An aide to the first secretary tonight denied he had briefed against his colleague, but confirmed he had been approached about the EU post a number of times in the last 10 days, had felt very conflicted about whether or not to do it, but in the end had accepted that the prime minister wanted him to stay in the government.
Baroness Ashton's friends accuse Lord Mandelson of envy about what she has achieved in Europe since he returned to the UK.
They say she has ended a 16-year trade dispute with banana producers, engineered a fair trade deal between Europe and South Korea, and ended a beef war between Europe and the US.
Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti knew Baroness Ashton as a human rights minister and believes there is a whiff of sexism about the criticism of her.
Baroness Ashton will need all her skills now to polish off a lengthy to do list. She will have to set up a European Union diplomatic service. She faces tensions with Iran over its nuclear enrichment programme.
On Bosnia, she will have to deal with growing ethnic tensions and a lack of reform and support for Kosovo has caused tension with Serbia.
Those who had been tipping Tony Blair for the top job are relieved that at least the Brits did not come back empty handed.
But one senior diplomatic source admitted that the EU's failure to appoint someone of the former prime minister's stature speaks volumes about the modesty of Europe's ambitions.
