Ashdown's Third Law: Why power shifts in the world mean that government and politics will have to change, and what are we going to do about it?
An evening with Lord Paddy Ashdown
Lord Paddy Ashdown stood as the Liberal Pariliamentary candidate for the Yeovil constituency in 1979 and raised the Liberal vote there to its highest ever level. Shortly after entering Parliament in the 1983 General Election, Paddy was appointed as the Liberal spokesman on Trade and Industry Affairs within the Liberal/SDP Alliance team at the House of Commons. He became Education spokesman in January 1987. He was elected Leader of the Liberal Democrats in July 1988 and was appointed as a Privy Councilor on 1 January 1989. In the 1997 General Election, he further increased his majority in his Yeovil constituency to over 11,000. Paddy stood down as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in 1999 and retired from the Commons in 2001. Lord Ashdown was made a KBE in 2000 and a peer in 2001. He was awarded the GCMG in the 2006 New Year's Honors' List, for his work in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
To register your interest:
Please contact Suzanne Roy on events@instituteforgovernment.org.uk or on
0207 747 0425
Date:
Tuesday 10th November 2009
Map:
How to Find Us
Timings:
17:30 for 18:00 start, to finish at 19:30
Post Seminar Reception:
19:30
In mid-2008, Paddy declined Gordon Brown's invitation to join his Cabinet, shortly before he became Prime Minister, because he said he could not agree with the Government's policies, especially in respect of our civil liberties. Later that year, Paddy was asked by the US Government and the UN Secretary General to take up the post as the head of the International Mission in Afghanistan, but this was subsequently vetoed by the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai.
