PADDY ASHTOWN COMES TO TOWN
June 10, 2009 3:57 PM
It is a major coup that Barnstaple has been able to attract the widely respected politician and diplomatic Paddy Ashdown. He will be here on 24 June offering unique insight into his long and varied career, when he offers an 'audience with' at the Queen's Theatre on 24 June.
Paddy was a West Country MP for Yeovil from 1983-2001, as well as leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 until August 1999. He was knighted in 2000 and became a life peer as Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset after retiring from the Commons in 2001.
He has had a fascinating career including High Representative for Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2002, which lead to him testifying as a witness for the prosecution at the trial of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
Paddy recalls: 'I have … led a most fortunate life. I was a soldier at the end of the golden age of imperial soldiering: a politician while politics was still a calling, rather than a profession and an international peace builder backed by Western Power, before Iraq and Afghanistan drained the West of both influence and morality.'
Nick says: 'Paddy is a great public speaker as many of you will know from his recent appearances on BBC Question Time and he always speaks with great authority. I would urge everyone who can to come and listen to what he has to say about British politics today.'
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats