Catherine Ashton (born 1956)
Born 1956 CE.
Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born 20 March 1956) is a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014. Her political career began in 1999 when she was created a life peer as Baroness Ashton of Upholland, of St Albans in the County of Hertfordshire, by Tony Blair's Labour government. She became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Education and Skills in 2001 and subsequently in the Ministry of Justice in 2004. She was appointed a Privy Counsellor in May 2006 and Lady Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in April 2023. Ashton became Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council in Gordon Brown's first Cabinet in June 2007. She was instrumental in steering the EU's Treaty of Lisbon through the UK Parliament's upper chamber.
Text from the Wikipedia article Catherine_Ashton, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.