From 2009 to 2014, Baroness Catherine Ashton was the EU's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, effectively Europe's foreign policy supremo responsible for coordinating the EU's response to international crises. Formerly Leader of the House of Lords under Gordon Brown, she spent a year as Peter Mandelson's replacement as EU Trade Commissioner before being promoted to the most senior diplomatic job in the EU. This well written book describes some of the events of her five years as the High Representative as she tackled challenges as varied as the Ukraine revolution, the earthquake in Haiti, the Iran nuclear deal, the "Arab Spring", and the still ongoing challenges on the Balkans. I found it very interesting, although I despaired page by page about how weighty matters affecting millions of people seemed to swing on the egos of a few, rather over-promoted, men. I was fascinated to read how senior diplomats get caught up in "stuff on the ground" - she found her self in Maiden Square in Kyiv during the Ukrainian revolution for example. The events she describes and the personalities involved seem of another time now - such as Obama, John Kerry, Sarkozy, Merkel, and José Manuel Barroso. Sadly not though Vladimir Putin.

Read in Hardback. Published February 2023.