EU chief Baroness Ashton's five star spa break... as Europe teeters on the brink of financial collapse
Baroness Ashton has been staying at a five star hotel in Melbourne
Baroness Ashton, the vice-president of the European Union has come under fire after she headed off on a luxury break to a five star hotel in Australia.
As European leaders struggled to save the euro on Wednesday, Baroness Ashton flew to Perth where she attended a three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, which started on Friday.
But once the opening day was finished she flew off to Melbourne on a private trip where she was due to stay at the exclusive Club Spa Suite at the Langham hotel which overlooks the Yarra river.
The three-night hotel stay is being paid for by Baroness Ashton but critics have said the entire trip to Australia is a waste of time and totally irrelevant to her job.
She has previously been criticised for her slow reaction to international crises and earlier this year the Foreign Office was embarrassed after it mistakenly published confidential documents which stated that she was not experienced enough to be Europe's foreign policy chief.
Written before her appointment, it says only a former foreign minister, prime minister or head of state would be suitably qualified to take up the role, which involves taking charge of the new EU External Action Service.
Details of her Australian trip, which have been seen by the Sunday Times, emerged in a memo detailing her itinerary.
