The harsh truth is the affable Ashton, a former bigwig in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, has looked out of her depth for much of the time. Mind you, she can hardly have expected to end up in such a high-profile post, tasked with launching a global diplomatic service after a quiet career in the quangocracy. New Labour patronage handed her power. First she was made a life peer, then sent to Brussels as a trade commissioner. Just one year later she was handed the second-most important job in Europe after a bout of Brussels horse-trading.

She was so little-known that security guards reportedly asked for her ID when she tried to attend the summit at which she was appointed. Afterwards, one MEP commented sourly: "Last year she was unknown in Britain. Today, she is unknown all over Europe."

When Ashton launched EEAS, her spokeswoman said they did not want "a big show". They got a farce instead, with a stream of negative stories emerging of bad management, poor judgment, media shyness and undiplomatic behaviour.

Rumours rippled around Brussels that she refused to take phone calls after 8pm. Gossips whispered she returned home to St Albans at weekends, despite a £38,000 annual accommodation allowance, and sniped at her lack of languages. "Mme Ashton est nulle" (Mrs Ashton is useless) was the harsh conclusion of Le Monde, while its rival Libération merely called her amateurish.

Things were so dire that David Miliband, then Foreign Secretary, offered her advice on how to carry out her job. But after the Arab Spring erupted, the sluggish EU reaction emphasised her inexperience once again.

Ashton's official titles sound like something from a cheap operetta: Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Recently, she compared her job to "trying to fly a plane while still bolting the wings on". She admitted internal battles had led to missed opportunities. As her trip to Egypt showed, she has looked more confident after learning to navigate Brussels and achieving some minor successes over Iran and the Balkans — although she still came under deserved fire for her silence on human rights issues during a trip to Bahrain. British ministers believe her appointment at least ensured Europe's ambitions for a stronger voice were checked, whether due to design or ineptitude. "If Blair or Miliband had got the job they would have asserted themselves far more," said one.