*** Welcome to piglix ***

Paddy Ashdown

The Right Honourable
The Lord Ashdown
of Norton-sub-Hamdon

GCMG CH KBE PC
Paddy Ashdown 3.jpg
Lord Ashdown at the Financial Times Summer Party, June 2011.
Chair of the Liberal Democrat General Election Committee
In office
26 September 2012 – 7 May 2015
Leader Nick Clegg
Preceded by Willie Rennie (2010; Campaigns and Communications Chair)
Succeeded by Greg Mulholland (Campaigns and Communications Chair)
High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
27 May 2002 – 30 May 2006
Preceded by Wolfgang Petritsch
Succeeded by Christian Schwarz-Schilling
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office
16 July 1988 – 11 August 1999
Deputy Russell Johnston
Alan Beith
Preceded by David Steel (Liberal Party)
Robert Maclennan (SDP)
Succeeded by Charles Kennedy
Member of Parliament
for Yeovil
In office
9 June 1983 – 7 June 2001
Preceded by John Peyton
Succeeded by David Laws
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
10 July 2001
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born Jeremy John Durham Ashdown
(1941-02-27) 27 February 1941 (age 76)
New Delhi, British Raj
Nationality British
Political party Liberal Democrats
Spouse(s) Jane Courtenay (1962–present)
Children Son and daughter
Alma mater Bedford School
Website www.parliament.uk
Military service
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch RoyalMarineBadge.svg Royal Marines
Years of service 1959–1972
Rank Captain
Unit Special Boat Service
Battles/wars Indonesian Confrontation

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, CH, KBE, PC (born 27 February 1941), usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and former diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 until August 1999.

After serving as a Royal Marine and Special Boat Service officer and as an intelligence officer in the UK security services, Ashdown became a Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001; later he served as International High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27 May 2002 to 30 May 2006, following his vigorous lobbying for military action against Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He was the Chair of the Liberal Democrats' 2015 general election team. A polyglot, Ashdown has an interpretership qualification in Mandarin and is fluent in several other languages.

Ashdown has received national recognition for his services by appointment as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 2006 New Year Honours and Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2015 New Year Honours.


...
Wikipedia

...