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Paddy Ashdown Quotes

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, , known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and former diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 until August 1999.

After serving as a Royal Marine and Special Boat Service officer and as an intelligence officer in the UK security services, Ashdown became a Member of Parliament for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001; later he served as International High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27 May 2002 to 30 May 2006, following his vigorous lobbying for military action against Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He was the Chair of the Liberal Democrats' 2015 general election team. A polyglot, Ashdown has an interpretership qualification in Mandarin and is fluent in several other languages.

Ashdown has received national recognition for his services by appointment as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2006 New Year Honours and Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 2015 New Year Honours.

✵ 27. February 1941 – 22. December 2018
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Famous Paddy Ashdown Quotes

“There can be no place in a 21st-century parliament for people with 15th-century titles upholding 19th-century prejudices.”

Paddy Ashdown

Quoted in the Independent (25 November 1998).

“History teaches us these lessons for the interveners: leave your prejudices at home, keep your ambitions low, have enough resources to do the job, do not lose the golden hour, make security your first priority, involve the neighbours.”

Paddy Ashdown

Radio series for the BBC (2007) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6662539.stm

“My second job has been to try to use my power to create institutions of a modern state that could enter the European Union, and there was very little time. The door was closing, and I wanted to get Bosnia through before it shut.”

Paddy Ashdown

As quoted in "Farewell, Sarajevo" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/02/warcrimes.politics (1 November 2005), The Guardian

“I don't think Bosnia is ready for reconciliation, but I do think it is ready for truth.”

Paddy Ashdown

As quoted in "Farewell, Sarajevo" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/02/warcrimes.politics (1 November 2005), The Guardian

“Bosnia is under my skin. It's the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years.”

Paddy Ashdown

As quoted in "Farewell, Sarajevo" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/02/warcrimes.politics (1 November 2005), The Guardian

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