Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, has had a high profile spat with the EU Parliament after they failed to show up in sufficient numbers to hear him speak.

Mr Juncker angrily branded the Parliament as “ridiculous” and “not serious” when a mere 30 MEPs attended a session with Mr Juncker and the Maltese Prime Minister to review Malta’s presidency of the Council of the EU.

The EU Parliament’s President was not slow to respond and reminded Mr Juncker that he was answerable to the Parliament and not the other way around.

Quite a few commentators have already pointed out that this sort of public spat between EU institutions is unedifying for both sides. However, in my view it highlights many of reasons why I’m glad the UK is about to ditch these institutions.

One of the (many) reasons why 17 million people in the UK voted to leave the EU was dissatisfaction with the European elite at the helm of the EU’s institutions.

A large section of our population views these officials as pompous, preening and contemptuous both of their concerns and the democratic process. Sadly, I fear many of these impressions accurately describe Mr Juncker.

Mr Juncker is deeply unwise to brand the only EU officials with a mandate, namely the MEPs, in such unflattering terms. This is particularly true as Mr Juncker has no direct mandate and claims democratic legitimacy from the fact that both he and his commissioners are ratified by the elected parliament.

Undermining the body that grants you legitimacy is rarely a good idea. At least if you care about how legitimate people perceive you to be.

It’s telling that Mr Juncker drew a comparison between himself and German Chancellor Angela Merkel or French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Juncker claimed that had either of them been in attendance Parliament would have been full.

Mr Juncker should perhaps ask himself why this is the case. He may conclude that the Parliament have more regard for the elected head of state/government of major EU member states than they have for the unelected commission.

Mr Juncker clearly sees himself as the equal of Merkel or Macron. I doubt this view is shared by the vast majority of EU residents or their elected MEPs.

Turning to our MEPs, I took the opportunity to speak to one of the absent members and ask him why he hadn’t attended. He replied that this type of morning session did not involve a full debate and only a limited number of MEPs would be invited to participate.

This particular MEP thought his time was better spent meeting with EU officials on a constituency matter that directly impacted the people who elected him.

The conclusion that I draw from this situation is that Mr Juncker needs to “wind his neck in”. When Eurocrats are perceived as being arrogant and aloof it’s best not to get precious about how many people show up to your speeches.

Equally when you’re accused of not having democratic legitimacy it helps not to insult the only people in the institutions that do.

I think the entire episode paints the Commission President in a very poor light.