LANCASHIRE-born diplomat Cathy Ashton must be very proud of herself now she can be seen as justifying her role as EU High Representative and the salary of £328,000 that goes with it, by having private meetings with deposed Egyptian former president Mohamed Morsi.

While I was indeed shocked to hear of his removal by the Egyptian military, and would like to see a calming of the situation, I struggle to see why the internal wrangling of this Arab state has anything to do with the EU.

Although deposed by the armed forces, Mohamed Morsi is by no means a standard bearer of freedom and representative democracy for the Arab world. His short reign was characterised by the swift railroading of democracy by stripping power from the courts and the brutal trampling over the rights of the over 10-million-strong Christian minority in the country.

Under Morsi, the economy has nosedived, tourist revenues have dried up and unemployment is at a record high, bringing hardship for many Egyptians. It is no wonder the army wanted rid of him and his hard-line Islamist ways.

I sincerely hope that these meetings between Ashton and Morsi do not signal any increased EU involvement in the region particularly now that it looks likely that the EU will be arming bloodthirsty ‘rebels’ in nearby Syria in the near future.

Paul Nuttall, UKIP North West MEP