A British politician was tonight celebrating after becoming Europe's first ''foreign minister''.

The UK's EU Trade Commissioner Baroness Cathy Ashton got the post after being endorsed by Gordon Brown.

Diplomats said the top job, Europe's new President, had gone to leading contender Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy.

Gordon Brown said tonight that Baroness Ashton would also hold the vice-presidency of the European Commission.

He told journalists the appointment would reaffirm Britain's influence in Europe.

''It shows that Britain is at the heart of Europe and it shows that we are leading the way in extending women's representation in the way we have done,'' he said.

The Prime Minister said he still felt that Tony Blair - whom he backed for the presidency - would have been ''excellent''.

But he added: ''As the week went by it became clear that the EPP (the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament) wanted to have one of their own members as president of the council.''

However, Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally described the process as a "stitch-up" and a perfect illustration of just how anti-democratic the EU is.

"Twenty seven EU leaders met behind closed doors over a cosy dinner in Brussels to thrash out who will represent Europe's 500 million citizens on the world stage, without so much as a wink to voters as to what on earth was going on.

"Neither Herman Van Rompuy nor Catherine Ashton has any democratic mandate to speak on behalf of Europe's citizens.

"Most people were denied a say on the Lisbon Treaty which created these posts, and now the jobs themselves have been filled without the slightest input from voters, nor even national parliaments."