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Reuters

Paddy Ashdown, the face of centrist politics in Britain for more than a decade and a one-time marine commando who sought to secure peace in the former Yugoslavia, died on Saturday after being treated for cancer. He was 77.
Ashdown led the Liberal Democrats for 11 years up to 1999, steering it to become a campaigning force in British politics against the Conservatives and the Labour Party.
The party said Ashdown died on Saturday evening after a short illness. He had recently been hospitalised with bladder cancer.
It said he would be remembered as someone who made an immeasurable contribution to furthering the cause of liberalism.

Paddy will be desperately missed by everyone at the Liberal Democrats as a dear friend and colleague, and remembered as someone who made an immeasurable contribution to furthering the cause of liberalism.
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) December 22, 2018

Tributes came in from across the political spectrum. Prime Minister Theresa May said Ashdown served his country with distinction. “He dedicated his life to public service and he will be sorely missed,” she said in a statement.
Calling Ashdown a “true patriot”, former Conservative Prime Minister John Major said: “In Government, Paddy Ashdown was my opponent. In Life, he was a much valued friend.”

Jeremy John Ashdown was born in India on February 27, 1941, the eldest son of an Indian army colonel.
When he was five, his father became a pig-farmer in Northern Ireland.
He was educated at an English private school where he earned the nickname Paddy because of his strong Irish accent.
He spent years in the Royal Marines, and was on active service as a commando in the jungles of Borneo.
He entered parliament in 1983 and was virtually unknown when he became leader of the pro-European party five years later.

However his craggy good looks – he had short sandy hair – and an earnest expression swiftly helped him to become one of his country’s most popular leaders and for a time the “Mr Clean” of British politics.
He also gained in stature during the 1991 Gulf War, which allowed him to display his military experience and diplomatic skills.
Ashdown’s image as a family man above the sniping of mainstream politics took a hit in February 1992 when he was forced to admit to a brief extramarital affair with his secretary.
Having stood down in 1999, he went on to become the United Nations high representative and European Union special representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ashdown described himself as having few gifts other than strong willpower.

“People said I couldn’t learn Chinese, they said I couldn’t run 30 miles in six hours. This sounds extraordinarily arrogant but I can’t remember a thing upon which I’ve set my mind that I didn’t succeed in doing,” he said in early 1992.
He was replaced as head of the party by Charles Kennedy who enjoyed further electoral success when he opposed Blair’s decision to invade Iraq, and the party under Nick Clegg entered power in a coalition David Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010.
It has since been decimated at the polls.
Ashdown, the author of several books, had two children with his wife, Jane.
He had in recent years campaigned alongside Cameron and other leaders for Britain to remain within the European Union.
He warned that chaos could ensue if it voted to leave and described Brexit as “a sense of personal bereavement”.


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Britain

Paddy Ashdown, former leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats, dead at 77

Paddy Ashdown in 2012. File photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and his wife Jane point to friends in the party faithful after Ashdown's speech during the party conference in Glasgow, Scotland, September 19 1995. REUTERS/Ian Waldie/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: Chair of the General Election Campaign and former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown, speaks at the party's spring conference in Brighton, southern England March 9, 2013. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo (BRITAIN - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY)

FILE PHOTO: Leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown waves to supporters from his helicopter after stopping in Sutton, Surrey on the last day of the general election campaign April 30. REUTERS/Paul Hackett/File Photo

UK’s duty to Hong Kong ‘non-negotiable’ in post-Brexit trade talks with China, Paddy Ashdown says

Paddy Ashdown said the UK has a ‘very special duty’ to Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam

Interview with the former UK Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown at Island Shangri-La in Admiralty. 28NOV17

Former student leaders Joshua Wong Chi-fung (Left second) and Nathan Law Kwun-chung (centre) meet the media outside the Court of Final Appeal in Central after released on bail. Wong and Law are released on bail after two months in custody. 24OCT17 SCMP / David Wong

Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Central Advisory Committee, Deng Xiaoping (L) and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (R) talk in a file photo dated 24 September 1982 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during one of their meetings leading up to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong on 26 September in 1984, setting up the territory as a Special Administrative Region of China. Fifty years after Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from the rostrum of Tiananmen gate 01 October 1949, the last major communist regime is gearing up for massive patriotic celebrations as it battles to stay in power and carve out a modern, prosperous country. AFP PHOTO

TOPSHOT - Pro-European Union demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament in central London against the first vote today on a bill to end Britain's membership of the EU on September 11, 2017. MPs hold their first vote today on a bill to end Britain's membership of the EU, which ministers say will avoid a "chaotic" Brexit but has been condemned as an unprecedented power grab. / AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO AND Tolga Akmen / Tolga Akmen

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Ashdown led the Liberals for 11 years from 1988
Party says he died following a ‘short illness’



Ashdown led the Liberals for 11 years from 1988, steering it to become a force in British politics to challenge the Conservatives and the Labour Party.


Obituaries

Paddy Ashdown, former leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats, dead at 77

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Ashdown led the Liberals for 11 years from 1988 Party says he died following a ‘short illness’

Ashdown led the Liberals for 11 years from 1988

Party says he died following a ‘short illness’