Paul Keetch
| Paul Keetch | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Hereford |
|
|
In office 2 May 1997 – 12 April 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Sir Colin Shepherd |
| Succeeded by |
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 May 1961 Hereford |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Spouse(s) | Claire Elizabeth Baker, 1991–2011 (divorced) |
| Children | One son |
| Alma mater | Hereford Sixth Form College |
| Occupation | Lobbyist |
Paul Stuart Keetch (born 21 May 1961, Hereford) is a former Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hereford from 1997 to 2010.
He went to Hereford High School for Boys (now Aylestone Business and Enterprise College), followed by Hereford Sixth Form College. Keetch joined the Liberal Party while still at school, and chaired the Hereford Young Liberals and the West Midlands Region Young Liberals, as well as being the election agent for the Liberals in Hereford in 1983. He was elected to Hereford City Council in 1983 at the age of 21, making him the then-youngest city councillor in the UK, and served two years before resigning to move to London. His first jobs were in banking and financial services, before moving to the water hygiene industry and Franklin Hodge self-assembly water tanks. He moved to London for Hodge in 1985, but soon left to become a self-employed public affairs consultant. Since 1996, he has been a non-executive director of the London Computer Company.
Keetch was selected as Lib Dem candidate for Hereford in 1994 and was elected to be the city's MP at the 1997 general election. He was a junior Liberal Democrat spokesman for Foreign Affairs from 1999–2001, a frontbench spokesman on Defence from October 1999 until the May 2005 general election, and a junior party Whip until 2010.
In July 2005, Keetch succeeded Sharon Bowles MEP as Chair of the Liberal International British Group. He also sat on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He founded the Cider All-Party Parliamentary Group.
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