Ashdown, Paddy (1941-…), served as the United Nations high representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006. In that post, he helped the country recover from its war of independence in the 1990’s. Ashdown led the United Kingdom’s Liberal Democratic Party from 1988 to 1999. He became the first leader of the Social and Liberal Democratic Party after the Liberals and Social Democrats merged in 1988. The party is now known as the Liberal Democrats. Ashdown served as Liberal spokesman on trade and industry until 1987, when he became education spokesman.
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown was born in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 27, 1941. He moved from India to Northern Ireland in 1941. He was educated at Bedford School, England. He joined the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office in 1972 and worked in the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1976, he ran for Parliament as a Liberal candidate but was defeated. He was first elected to Parliament in 1983. He resigned his seat in 2001.
