predecessor successor birth_name birth_place president party office primeminister birth_date term_start spouse image article_title term_end name alma_mater
margot wallström javier solana peter mandelson the baroness amos frans of blaisdon timmermans federica mogherini benita ferrero-waldner the baroness royall catherine margaret ashton upholland , united kingdom josé manuel barroso josé manuel barroso josé manuel barroso labour first of the union for foreign affairs and security policy european vice commissioner for trade leader of the house of lords ; president lord president of the council of the european commission high representative gordon brown 20 march 1956 9 27 june 2007 february 2010 1 december 2009 3 october 2008 peter kellner -lrb- 1988 -- present -rrb- baroness ashton headshot.jpg catherine ashton
 1 3 october 2008 november 2014 1 november 2014 1 december 2009 the baroness ashton of upholland university of london
catherine ashton

catherine margaret ashton , baroness ashton of upholland , -lrb- born 20 march 1956 at upholland , lancashire -rrb- 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 councillor in may 2006 .
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 second chamber .
in 2008 , she was appointed as the british european commissioner and became the commissioner for trade in the european commission .
in december 2009 , she became the inaugural high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy that was created by the treaty of lisbon .
as high representative , ashton served as the eu 's foreign policy chief .
despite being criticised by some , particularly at the time of her appointment and in the early stages of her term of office , for her limited previous experience of international diplomacy , ashton subsequently won praise for her work as a negotiator in difficult international situations , in particular for her role in bringing serbia and kosovo to an agreement in april 2013 that normalised their ties , and in the p5 +1 talks with iran which led to the november 2013 geneva interim agreement on iranian nuclear program .
