The Party Leader: Paddy Ashdown.
As a result of a fully democratic, one member one vote election, Paddy Ashdown MP was elected Leader of the new Party in July 1988 and an all-member ballot in October 1989 adopted the name Liberal Democrats (Lib Dem) as the common name of the Party. Paddy Ashdown has consistently scored the very high ratings as the most popular leader of the three main political parties throughout the last ten years. ASHDOWN URGES A SWIFT RESPONSE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER IN REGARDS TO THE MANDELSON LOAN AFFAIR (23rd December 1998). Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown MP has today written to the Prime Minister to express his concern over revelations involving the personal financial arrangements of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Paymaster General. In his letter Mr Ashdown urges the Prime Minister to act swiftly, formally and publicly on the affair. ACTIONS AGAINST IRAQ (18th December 1998). Speaking this morning, Paddy Ashdown, who has just returned from a four day trip to Kosovo, said: "The operations against Saddam Hussein are about upholding international law - which he has flouted repeatedly. "The world is only just beginning to build a proper peaceful structure of international law. It must be upheld, or we risk chaos and yet more wars. The action we have taken to punish Saddam's criminality will be sending a shiver up the spine of Milosevic and other regimes who defy the international community. "The military aims for the mission must be achievable, which means: destroying and degrading what you can of Saddam's weaponry, diminishing his ability to replace the arsenal, and, crucially, we must make him pay a price for flouting international law - and this means targetting what he values most for propping up his brutal regime, including the Republican Guard."
ASHDOWN IN KOSOVO: "situation very fragile" (15th December 1998). Speaking this evening from Pristina, the Kosovan capital, after two days in the field with the UK contingent of monitors, and with the UNHCR refugee relief effort, Paddy Ashdown said: "The situation here is very fragile - particularly after yesterday and the killing of 32 Albanians, which has made everyone jumpy. "The observers are doing a good job, and are stabilising the situation as much as they can - but their authority is being gradually eroded by the Serbian authorities who are trying to edge away from the agreement all the time. There are not enough observers and they don't have enough back-up. Also, we have been too slow at getting them in place on the ground. "The refugee situation has been eased, and the UNHCR are doing a tremendous job. Real progress has been made in caring for the refugees." Mr Ashdown will spend tomorrow holding meetings in Pristina with Serb authorities and in Belgrade with independent press and broadcasters, and with aid agencies. On Thursday he is scheduled to meet President Slobodan Milosevic, and return to London Thursday evening. He is being accompanied by Baroness Shirley Williams. BUSINESS NEEDS A 'LIBERAL' EUROPE (Thursday 3rd December 1998). Paddy Ashdown and senior colleagues including Jim Wallace MP, Leader of the Scottish Lib Dems will meet tonight in Edinburgh with key figures in the Scottish business world about the business opportunities that devolution can bring. He will say: "We have to get over the constant squabbling of the other Parties and emphasise what the new Parliament can do for Scotland and for Scottish business. We should use the powers of the new Parliament to boost wealth creation - it is part of a strategy to enhance our investment in the infrastructure and in health and education." Reflecting on the recent wrangles over European finance policy, he will say: "Without a clear statement of intent from the Government on the single currency Britain is being left out of key decisions on European finance. The fact that the veto is being discussed only demonstrates that we have once again allowed the agenda in Europe to be shaped by others. "In the Prime Ministers own words, we 'cannot shape Europe unless we matter in Europe'. The Government's lack of leadership, especially over Britain's entry into the single currency, has left a vacuum that is being filled by anti-European scare stories. We do not want a centralising socialist Europe. Britain should be in there arguing for a liberal, open, accountable and competitive Europe, with a constitution to define and limit its powers. We may have to start off with a European Central Bank modelled on the Bundesbank, but it needs to evolve into something more responsive. "Britain is paying a high price because we now have another Government which is following where it should be leading. As a result we are losing influence in Europe and we are in danger of losing the argument here at home."
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