Paddy Ashdown

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Paddy Ashdown (2011)
Paddy Ashdown, Sarajevo

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown , Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon , GCMG , KBE , CH , PC (born February 27, 1941 in New Delhi , India - † December 22, 2018 ), commonly known as Paddy Ashdown , was a British politicians , who between 1988 and 1999 Chairman of the Liberal Democrats and between 2002 and 2006 High representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina was. He was a lifetime peer .

biography

Ashdown was born the eldest of seven children in New Delhi, India, where his father served as a captain in the British Indian Army for the 14th Punjab & RIASC. He spent most of his childhood in Northern Ireland , where he got his nickname Paddy . He received his education at the Bedford School in England. Between 1959 and 1972 he served as an officer in the Royal Marines in special forces commands as a close combat specialist and as a combat swimmer . After his retirement from the Navy, he worked for the British Foreign Office, in the industry and as a youth social worker before 1983 as a member of the Liberal Party as an MP for the constituency Yeovil in the House of Commons has been selected. Claims that he worked for MI6 while serving as a diplomat in Geneva in the 1970s were not commented on.

In parliament he was spokesman for the alliance SDP-Liberals for trade and industry, and later for education . After the merger of the former Liberal Party with the SDP , he became chairman of the SLDP in 1988 and remained so after the party had renamed itself the Liberal Democrats . He led the Liberal Democrats in the 1992 and 1997 national elections.

As chairman, he was an advocate of cooperation between Liberal Democrats and " New Labor " and regularly took part in secret meetings with Tony Blair to plan a coalition government. After Labour's 1997 victory, a united cabinet committee - the Jenkins Commission chaired by Liberal Democrat Peer Roy Jenkins - met to consider electoral reform, Ashdown's key demand. The plan to bring the Liberal Democrats to power continued, according to Ashdown's published diaries, but failed due to resistance from senior Labor ministers.

Ashdown resigned as chairman in 1999 and was succeeded by Charles Kennedy . For the general election in 2001 Ashdown has not raced for more and retired from the House of Commons from. Instead, he was raised on July 10, 2001 as Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon , of Norton-sub-Hamdon in the County of Somerset , to life peer and thereby a member of the House of Lords .

On May 27, 2002, he took over the post of High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina . As early as the 1990s, he had long been committed to international intervention in the Balkan region. He succeeded Wolfgang Petritsch in this position created by the Dayton Agreement . His term ended on January 31, 2006.

Ashdown was married with two children and two grandchildren. He spoke several languages, including fluent standard Chinese .

Ashdown was diagnosed with bladder cancer in October 2018 . He died on December 22, 2018 at the age of 77. On January 10, 2019, the funeral service was held at St. Mary's Church, Norton Sub Hamdon, Somerset , where he was buried.

Works

Web links

Commons : Paddy Ashdown  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ex-Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown diagnosed with bladder cancer. Retrieved January 26, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ Ex-Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown dies aged 77. In: BBC News . December 23, 2018, accessed January 26, 2020 .
  3. ^ Home village funeral for Paddy Ashdown. In: BBC News . January 10, 2019, accessed January 26, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Ashdown, Paddy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ashdown, Jeremy John Durham, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician, member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH New Delhi , India
DATE OF DEATH 22nd December 2018