For nearly a decade the European Union has been seeking a president and a foreign minister, the result of pressure from those within the union who have their eyes on an unrealisable federal state.

When the positions became available last week experience in either presidential or foreign affairs would have been a distinct disadvantage for any of the candidates. And remember: these were appointments, not elections.

So out pops Herman Van Rompuy, Prime Minister of Belgium for the past year, and Baroness Catherine Ashton who once chaired a health authority.

If anyone wanted to demonstrate ineptitude and pointless waste of money in the EU as presently constituted, the 27 leaders have just done it.

Anyone who has ever watched the European Union leaders in action would have known that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had no chance of becoming president of the EU.

So must Gordon Brown. One can only assume that he voiced his support in the knowledge that his old political enemy was beaten before he started. No member state was looking for a Tony Blair - or even a Peter Mandelson - for that matter. They got precisely what they wanted: two anonymous and mediocre figures. No one will take much notice of them and they will stay out of the limelight and do what they are told.

The former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's question about whom the Americans should ring about European policy has been answered.

Gordon Brown says Lady Ashton will be a strong voice in the EU for the United Kingdom. Apart from holding the most grandiose and just about the silliest title in European politics, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union, she will also be a vice-president of the commission for external affairs under Jose Manuel Barossa.

Gordon must know full well that Lady Ashton is the servant of Europe, not Britain. It's in her terms of appointment.

Imagine the fury in Paris, Berlin, Madrid or Krakow if Lady Ashton were to begin to proclaim for British policy on foreign affairs.

The heads of government of the European Union have appointed presidents of the European Commission in the past. And they have always gone for the safe bet.

Presently we have Mr Barossa. He was pretty much unknown outside his own Portugal before his appointment.

The European Union now has two unelected presidents, Van Rompuy and Barossa of the commission, and an unelected foreign minister Ashton, 27 heads of government and 27 foreign ministers.

Lady Ashton will have at her disposal in excess of 6,000 diplomatic staff and eventually 200 offices worldwide to tell the countries of the world about EU foreign policy.

Back in Brussels Mr Van Rompuy will have a large staff, making up schemes for us to pay for. Apparently he would like a Europe-wide tax.

What is all this about?

This large-scale farce is the result of a decade of deep thinking and even deeper spending of our taxesby the intelligentsia of Europe, First they produced a constitution for Europe and then, with minor changes, the Lisbon Treaty.

The constitution was the result of years of work. When France and the Netherlands voted it down in referenda the intellectuals went back to the drawing board and, with minor changes, produced the Lisbon treaty.

When Ireland turned it down, European democracy dictated that a small country cannot be allowed to halt the march of progress so they held a second referendum to get the right answer.

Basically, the EU has lost its way.

Europe has its place in the economy, defeating global terrorism and co-operating on those matters in which countries can conceivably work together and have common interests. We don't need presidents and people with high sounding and meaningless titles carrying large salaries for that.

Perhaps they could appoint a small commission to decide in agreement what the European construction is now for.