Has the taxpayer received bang for buck from Baroness Ashton?

A great deal of fuss is being made about Baroness Ashton’s retirement salary. She leaves her ludicrous post as High Representative for Foreign Affairs at the European Union next year — and is being given only £400,000 to tide her over the next few years.

I think that is quite modest: sometimes, you see, the taxpayer has to take a deep breath and cut his losses. Better this woman be paid £400,000 for doing absolutely nothing, rather than receive her full salary for carrying on doing useless, pointless things in Brussels. It would be interesting, though, to add up how much the state and the taxpayer has forked out for Ashton since she began her career as chairthing of the National Council for Complaining About Everything, back in the 1980s. Every subsequent job at a quango or charity. I just wonder if, over the years, we’ve got bang for our buck from Cathy.