Press release on nomination of new EU High Representative Cathy Ashton

Press release

Congratulations on Cathy Ashton

19 November 2009

Denis macshane MP, who is a long-standing friend of the new EU foreign minister Cathy Ashton, said he was delighted with her appointment. "Cathy Ashton has always exceeded expectations in every job she has undertaken. She is a calm, competent consensus builder with all the down-to-earth style of her native Lancashire. She was Labour's best leader in the House of Lords and anyone who can herd peers will have no trouble with EU foreign ministers. She is a committed pro-european and will see off the crude isolationism on offer from William Hague and work very well with Hilary Clinton. This is a big achievement for Britain to have obtained this key new post and British values and influence will now have a place at the heart of Europe. Cathy was a modernising reformist who helped Tony Blair create the New Labour Party and was a staunch supporter of Tony and his policies. I am sure Tony will be delighted that one of his proteges and a woman he nudged into high ministerial office now has this key EU role. David Miliband now has a close friend and colleague in charge of EU foreign policy while Gordon Brown should be congratulated on seeing off the Eurocracy grandees and won this job for a British woman", said MacShane.