Når politikere skal træde tilbage fra regeringen, eller hvis de som Chris Patten mister deres mandat i et valg, bliver de sendt væk i fem eller 10 år i Kommissionen - en Kommission, som har vist sig ikke at kunne reformeres.
When people have to resign from cabinet or if, like Chris Patten, they lose their seat in an election, they are packed off for five or ten years at the European Commission – a Commission that has proved itself to be unreformable.