0:00:05 > 0:00:08My guest today was born in colonial India,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10into a military family.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15He started his career as a Royal Marines officer.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Yet most of his life has been spent serving his country
0:00:20 > 0:00:25in the full glare of publicity, as a leading figure in British politics.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29He is Paddy Ashdown.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36As a young man, Paddy served in conflicts all around the world.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39We get on board HMS Bulwark and thunder up the Persian Gulf,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42every rivet of the ship popping.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45He patrolled the jungles of Sarawak in Borneo.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49I didn't like the business of killing, obviously,
0:00:49 > 0:00:50nobody likes that.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54And undertook secret missions in the naval special forces.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58For a time, he even stepped into the shadowy world of espionage.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02I can say I was working in the area of intelligence - yes.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07But life in the military in charge of other young Marines opened
0:01:07 > 0:01:08Paddy's eyes.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12I was in a position of commanding them because of an accident
0:01:12 > 0:01:15of birth, and I detest the class system, utterly detest it.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17He developed a new passion,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22swapping the theatre of war for the political stage.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25He was not a natural Parliamentarian.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28He didn't enjoy the silly games they play between the Honourable
0:01:28 > 0:01:30and the Right Honourable members.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33And there was one particular Right Honourable who regularly
0:01:33 > 0:01:34outplayed him.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Every week, I'd try and pop up and she'd go...pom, pom!
0:01:38 > 0:01:41As leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown has experienced
0:01:41 > 0:01:43the highs
0:01:43 > 0:01:45and the lows of political life.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49If this exit poll is right, I will publicly eat my hat.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And survived a scandal that threatened to destroy his career
0:01:52 > 0:01:54and his marriage.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Jane deserves a medal for almost everything.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00I don't suppose I've been an easy person to live with at all.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Everyone knows about the kind of menace and machismo
0:02:03 > 0:02:04of the man.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Gallantry, glamour, youth.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09But in many respects, a better description of him
0:02:09 > 0:02:11is as a soldier poet.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15There was an old man burying his son and Paddy immediately
0:02:15 > 0:02:19took his jacket off, picked up a shovel and helped him.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But despite a lifetime witnessing the horror of war,
0:02:23 > 0:02:24he retains a belief in God.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32I love to feel part of the communion of people who are in touch
0:02:32 > 0:02:36with the God that I believe in, actually, pray to every night.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43But where does the soldier end and the politician begin?
0:02:43 > 0:02:46I want to know who's the real Paddy Ashdown?
0:02:48 > 0:02:49INAUDIBLE
0:02:56 > 0:02:59- Of course, we've just had the general election this year.- Yeah.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Everybody was taken by surprise.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03And I ate my hat.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04You did.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Yeah, I looked at those figures, Fern, because
0:03:07 > 0:03:10I saw them about two minutes before they were announced, and I thought,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13"Oh, God, um, what do I do now?"
0:03:13 > 0:03:15And so I used the famous phrase.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I get lorry drivers in the street still pulling up alongside,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20"Hey, Paddy, you eaten your hat yet?"
0:03:20 > 0:03:23You weren't born Patrick or Paddy, were you?
0:03:23 > 0:03:25No. I wasn't, no.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29At the age of 11, I went to my school in England with...
0:03:29 > 0:03:33- WITH ACCENT:- ..a very broad Northern Ireland accent - very, very broad.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35So, of course, the English,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39knowing nothing about the Irish whatsoever, decided
0:03:39 > 0:03:40that all Irish must be Paddys.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42And Paddy I was known,
0:03:42 > 0:03:44and I feel rather more of a Paddy than I do a Jeremy.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46You are a Jeremy John...
0:03:46 > 0:03:48..Durham Ashdown.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Jeremy John Durham Ashdown was born in the middle of World War II
0:03:54 > 0:03:58on 27 February 1941, in New Delhi, India.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04So, Paddy, why were you born in India? What were your parents doing?
0:04:04 > 0:04:08My dad's family came originally from the south of Ireland
0:04:08 > 0:04:11and went to India in 1805.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15They were soldiers and administrators and the people
0:04:15 > 0:04:19who ran the Empire, and my mum came from Northern Ireland
0:04:19 > 0:04:24and she went to India as a nurse, just before the war, in the 1930s.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29During his childhood in India, Paddy was often
0:04:29 > 0:04:31left in the care of family servants.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34They were wonderful.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36And they were Muslims and I was brought up to
0:04:36 > 0:04:40the rhythm of Islam and when I came home at the age of five, when
0:04:40 > 0:04:43the British left India, I could speak Hindi
0:04:43 > 0:04:45much, much better than English.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Interesting that you say the rhythms?
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Do you mean the day-to-day...
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Yeah, the habits of Islam and, above all, the prayers of Islam,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56so it was sort of ingrained into my life.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And it's always been a part of my life, Fern,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02this business of living with different creeds,
0:05:02 > 0:05:03different cultures.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05I've always enjoyed it very much.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11The Ashdowns had seven children in all, but Paddy shared his first
0:05:11 > 0:05:14four years with just one younger brother, Richard.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19As you were growing up and were still in India,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22you lost a little brother, who died,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25and I know that that really also shaped
0:05:25 > 0:05:26something for your parents -
0:05:26 > 0:05:30this fear of losing a child is obviously any parent's horror.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32Yeah, I don't know how they coped with it.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34They lost, in all, three.
0:05:34 > 0:05:40I am the oldest of seven and my brother Richard died
0:05:40 > 0:05:42when I was four - he was two -
0:05:42 > 0:05:47of one of those tropical fevers nobody could perfectly identify.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51And then my younger brother Robert, at the age of 14.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53He died of leukaemia.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57And then my youngest twin sister, Melanie, was
0:05:57 > 0:05:59killed in a traffic accident.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05I sometimes think, in a way that you do, that my luck has been
0:06:05 > 0:06:09bought at the price of the torture my parents went through.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13And this business of losing offspring, it is
0:06:13 > 0:06:15the biggest nightmare I have.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Whenever the kids got sick, indeed when they still do,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I almost lose my rationality about this tiny dot that
0:06:21 > 0:06:24appears on the horizon, that is suddenly going to become
0:06:24 > 0:06:27the storm that engulfs you in tragedy and sadness.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33After the war ended, the Ashdowns decided to leave India
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and begin a new life in their native Ireland.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Aged just five,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Paddy made the long journey with his mother.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44It was from their train that he witnessed sectarian violence
0:06:44 > 0:06:46for the first time.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49- ARCHIVE:- Can Hindus and Muslims live peacefully together?
0:06:50 > 0:06:52The train stopped outside a station.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57My mum put my face into her skirts but, being a five-year-old,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59I looked out and what I saw
0:06:59 > 0:07:04was a platform covered with the bodies of the end of a massacre.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10I don't know whether they were Muslims by Hindus or Hindus by Muslims.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12But I could almost smell the fear.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19And so, as a sort of underground stream
0:07:19 > 0:07:23in my life has run this business of that terrible event
0:07:23 > 0:07:27that occurs between two neighbours that get on perfectly well and
0:07:27 > 0:07:31one terrible night something happens that ignites the ethnic or religious
0:07:31 > 0:07:34differences, and then they are able to kill and torture each other
0:07:34 > 0:07:36in the most disgusting ways,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38- and that seems to have been part of my life.- It does.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41But as a five-year-old, that was not established in your consciousness.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44No, absolutely not, but it did give me terrible nightmares.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48And when you finally, safely, got on the boat,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51it was the sea that ignited your passion?
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Absolutely right. I had never seen it before, of course,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57and I immediately fell in love with it
0:07:57 > 0:08:00and teamed up with another tearaway five-year-old.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03And we both swore we'd go in the Royal Navy.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08After a couple of years living on the Northern Irish coast, the family
0:08:08 > 0:08:12moved inland to the little market town of Comber in County Down.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16It took another year or so
0:08:16 > 0:08:19for your father to join you all in Northern Ireland.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22How did he settle without the glamour of India and the Army?
0:08:22 > 0:08:24I don't think that mattered to him.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29I could always sense a nostalgia for India, but my dad was the kind
0:08:29 > 0:08:32of person who looked objectively at the task in front of him.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35And the task in front of him was to make a base in Northern Ireland,
0:08:35 > 0:08:36to earn a living for his family.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38He took on pig farming?
0:08:38 > 0:08:41He had to learn it from scratch and he wasn't very good at it, in truth.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45But he clearly was devastatingly charming -
0:08:45 > 0:08:48seven engagements before he managed to marry your mother.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51Yes, he was a rogue.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54He loved argument, adored it. He would provoke it.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57He would stimulate arguments and then take the impossible side
0:08:57 > 0:09:00so you had to argue with him, even though he didn't believe in it.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02We used to shout at each other.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07I mean, it was an extremely turbulent dinner table, with
0:09:07 > 0:09:12my mum presiding over all of it like this calm centre to the storm,
0:09:12 > 0:09:17always dishing out clotted cream dollops of unconditional love
0:09:17 > 0:09:19to any hurt pride.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23And he taught me a very, very, very important lesson
0:09:23 > 0:09:27for politics, which is never be afraid to be in a minority of one.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Don't worry if other people are all against you,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31if you believe you are right, stick to it.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35Paddy was growing up in a household at odds with the religious
0:09:35 > 0:09:37sectarianism around him.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42His mum was a Protestant, his dad a Catholic.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47So, did religion play any part in your childhood?
0:09:48 > 0:09:51When I went to school, at the age of five,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55to a little Northern Ireland primary school,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57all of them said, "What are you Paddy,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59"are youse a Protestant or are youse a Catholic?"
0:09:59 > 0:10:01So I went home to my father and said,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04"Dad, am I a Protestant or a Catholic?"
0:10:04 > 0:10:06And he said, "Go back and tell them you're a Muslim."
0:10:06 > 0:10:09So, I went back and I said, "I'm a Muslim,"
0:10:09 > 0:10:13and they said, "Well are youse a Protestant Muslim or are youse a Catholic Muslim?"
0:10:13 > 0:10:14HE LAUGHS
0:10:16 > 0:10:20These early experiences helped shape Paddy's religious thinking.
0:10:23 > 0:10:29If somebody asked me, Fern, do I believe in God, I do, actually.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34If they ask me how shall we name the creed,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37I'd say Christianity, because Christianity happens
0:10:37 > 0:10:43to provide me with a code to try and live my life at my time,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46in my country, in the context in which I live it.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49If somebody said, "You're a Christian, are you a Protestant or
0:10:49 > 0:10:50a Catholic?" I say,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53"Look, I'm a Christian, I'm not going further than that."
0:10:53 > 0:10:58But I love to feel part of the communion of people who are
0:10:58 > 0:11:03in touch with the God that I believe in, actually, pray to every night
0:11:03 > 0:11:04Every night?
0:11:04 > 0:11:09Yeah, I do, I do, I do. I don't know, but.... I do, yes.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Are you asking for things, thanking him for things,
0:11:12 > 0:11:13looking for something?
0:11:15 > 0:11:17I have been exceptionally fortunate.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22I have to say at moments of misery and sadness,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26I will ask for things, but that is rather rare. I just
0:11:26 > 0:11:31find it a comfortable thing to do in my life, to acknowledge something
0:11:31 > 0:11:33greater than myself on a daily basis,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35I suppose it's as easy as that.
0:11:37 > 0:11:38At the age of 11,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Paddy was sent away to England as a boarder at Bedford School.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Academic study didn't interest him.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48He shone most on the playing fields and in the pool.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52He left before taking his A levels,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56pursuing instead his earlier passion for the sea.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59I mean, I could have gone to university.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01People said I should have done.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03I could have passed the exams.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06I never took them because my parents couldn't afford to send me
0:12:06 > 0:12:07to university.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09So I joined the Royal Marines by accident.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14It was absolutely right for this 18-year-old tearaway
0:12:14 > 0:12:16with a love of adventure.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18When the Marine has to go in somewhere,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20there's no telling how he'll arrive,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22by air, by water, or on foot.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Royal Marines training is regarded as one of the toughest in the world.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35For a Marine, cliffs, even sheer cliffs with hardly a foothold,
0:12:35 > 0:12:36just don't exist.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41It culminates in the infamous 30-mile speed march across Dartmoor.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48As a young, raw second lieutenant, I had to learn to pack my kit.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51I had to learn to, um, to make sure
0:12:51 > 0:12:54we had the right number of pieces of lavatory paper in there.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56How many pieces? Three?
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Yes, I remember I had a drill sergeant who said,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01"You've got four pieces of lavatory paper here, sir.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03"That's not what your young bottom needs.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06"Three is enough - one up, one down and one to polish," he said.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09So that was all part of it.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14But the most important thing it taught me was the self-discipline.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20You can do your 30-mile march across Dartmoor with a full pack
0:13:20 > 0:13:23and rifle in whatever it was, five or six hours, not
0:13:23 > 0:13:26because of discipline but because of self-discipline that drives you on.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30That's what it taught me, and then, that unique
0:13:30 > 0:13:35privilege of commanding men in difficult circumstances.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Paddy's best friend on the course was fellow officer Tim Courtenay.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46Training was hard, but it's all to do with moulding young men
0:13:46 > 0:13:48into good Royal Marines.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Paddy led by example.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54He wouldn't expect his marines or anyone to do things that he couldn't
0:13:54 > 0:13:59do and do better, so he was a good, positive leader.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03I had two reports written of me.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06One by a colonel who said, "Lieutenant Ashdown's men
0:14:06 > 0:14:10"would follow him anywhere, but chiefly out of curiosity."
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Never knew what you were going to do next!
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Well, one of those things you did next was you went to a ball, I think,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22and you met a gorgeous young woman called Jane.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28It was my first ball, I was 18, first Royal Marine Ball,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30I think my first ball, to be honest.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33For some reason or another, Paddy
0:14:33 > 0:14:39and other members of the batch were without birds, to put it bluntly,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43and so it was, "Does anyone know any spare birds?"
0:14:43 > 0:14:49I took my cousin and my best friend took his cousin.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53It just so happened that my cousin Jane lived up the road.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56So it was a question of, you know, come down to the pub,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59meet up and see who is going to take who.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03And it was a slightly haphazard sort of way of doing things.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05So when I arrived at a little pub,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07I asked the publican, who I knew quite well, and he said,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09"Upstairs, second on the right."
0:15:09 > 0:15:12So I went upstairs, second on the right, opened the door
0:15:12 > 0:15:16and there was Jane. She was not dressed at the time and I went, "Oh!" she went, "Oh!"
0:15:16 > 0:15:19And there was I in my dressing gown with my hair in pins, you know?
0:15:19 > 0:15:23I looked at him and I thought, "Oh, where have you been all my life?"
0:15:23 > 0:15:28I was a nasty, scruffy little art student in Bristol
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and he was all tarted up, you know, looking frightfully chic.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34And the rest, as they say, is history.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42The next day, we went to lunch at the Clarence Hotel in Exeter.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Neither of us really enjoyed the lunch very much,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48so I said to her, "Do you know what? Let's go and look at the cathedral."
0:15:50 > 0:15:52And that's when we fell in love.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Here was a person who, she was not only very beautiful,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00but also she had the same passions as I did, poetry,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03music, in particular, classical music, and architecture.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05By the way, very different to me,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08completely opposite, and that's the secret of our marriage.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09Almost in the same way that your mother
0:16:09 > 0:16:12and father were quite different. Your mother, the centre balm.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Fern, that's very perceptive.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Jane is in our family the calm centre,
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Jane is the person who anchors me.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24I am the person who is constantly looking for another adventure.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28But that Christmas was bittersweet.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Days after meeting Jane, Paddy returned home to
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Northern Ireland to discover his parents' business had collapsed.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38And his father had a shocking announcement.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42I remember the meeting so well.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45I was in tears and he was, too, which made me even worse,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and he said, "Look I've let you all down.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52"I must now go somewhere with the family where the future
0:16:52 > 0:16:56"of my children does not depend on them going to a private school."
0:16:56 > 0:16:58I said goodbye to them not far
0:16:58 > 0:17:02from here and they all emigrated to Australia as £10 Poms, and left me behind.
0:17:03 > 0:17:04Good heavens.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Paddy said goodbye to his parents
0:17:08 > 0:17:12and his five siblings in the summer of 1960.
0:17:12 > 0:17:13He was 19 years old.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18I know he found losing his family to the other
0:17:18 > 0:17:21side of the world pretty difficult, but we didn't have
0:17:21 > 0:17:25a lot of time to think about these things, so we got on with it.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Just 1,000 miles east of Suez,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31British units are rushed in at the Sheikh of Kuwait's request...
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Paddy's first deployment was to the Middle East.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38His unit was part of a naval task force sent to defend
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Kuwait against invasion by Iraq.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46As far as we knew, we were going to do an assault with 600 men
0:17:46 > 0:17:50on Kuwait, which we thought was occupied by a division -
0:17:50 > 0:17:53that's 10,000 - Iraqis, plus tanks.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56So we were all a bit nervous about this and we get
0:17:56 > 0:17:59onboard HMS Bulwark, and thunder up the Persian Gulf.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02Every rivet of the ship popping.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06And my commanding officer was a completely mad wartime
0:18:06 > 0:18:11Commando colonel, and he called us young officers together.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15And he said, "Right, when we have driven these Arab Johnnies..."
0:18:15 > 0:18:16- that's the way they talk -
0:18:16 > 0:18:19"When we have driven these Arab Johnnies out of Kuwait,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21"we will have to win their hearts and minds,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24"and so we'll put on a show of Scottish country dancing."
0:18:25 > 0:18:31I jest not - so here I am in an army blanket as a kilt... I don't know,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34about 70 degrees outside, with the sunshine sparkling off the Arabian Sea,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38learning the Eightsome Reel, which I can still do to this day.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40When we got there, the Iraqis hadn't arrived
0:18:40 > 0:18:42so we were able to take up our position.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47And the Iraqis got to hear that there was a thin red line
0:18:47 > 0:18:51and they didn't attack, so we saved Kuwait, sort of.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Yes, you did save Kuwait. 600 against 10,000 would have been grim.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56I am so glad they didn't come.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Paddy didn't see action in Kuwait,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07but his next operation took him to Borneo in the Far East
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and a confrontation over the creation of modern Malaysia.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17It meant Paddy and his men defending a frontier of dense jungle
0:19:17 > 0:19:20and months of separation from Jane.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27I went to the cinema one night with my mother, I think it was,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31and, you know, they used to have these Look At Life clip things.
0:19:31 > 0:19:32And there was I sitting there
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and there was my husband on the cinema.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Britain's Marines are protecting 80 miles of Sarawak's 600-mile frontier.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44At this post, 23-year-old Marine Lieutenant Ashdown has local forces
0:19:44 > 0:19:46as well as Marines under his command.
0:19:46 > 0:19:52I felt a bit tearful, because it was so very, very unexpected.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57This is obviously a very naive question
0:19:57 > 0:20:00and one I am sure you have been asked a million times
0:20:00 > 0:20:03at dinner parties etc, but that moment when, I mean I am
0:20:03 > 0:20:07imagining this, you are perhaps on your stomach, you are crouching in
0:20:07 > 0:20:09long grass, the enemy is over there,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12you squeeze the trigger, you know you've killed them.
0:20:14 > 0:20:15You know, Fern, it doesn't...
0:20:15 > 0:20:18I can't remember it happening like that.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23It's just... 99% of war is just unbearable boredom
0:20:23 > 0:20:26and then 1% is stuff that happens in,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29you know, a minute, 30 seconds, three or four minutes,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31maybe, quarter of an hour.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Of terror.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Well, you are, of course you're frightened.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37If you're not frightened, you're an idiot.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40But when the moment comes,
0:20:40 > 0:20:45and stuff starts flying, you don't have time to be frightened,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47oddly enough, you just don't.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50You want to know your men are all right.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54People have this weird idea that young men fight wars
0:20:54 > 0:20:56for their country. They don't.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58They fight wars for the man next to them,
0:20:58 > 0:21:00who they know is their buddy and they know
0:21:00 > 0:21:04he will lay down his life for you and you will do the same for him.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08I think... I enjoyed soldiering.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11I didn't like the business of killing, obviously,
0:21:11 > 0:21:12nobody likes that.
0:21:12 > 0:21:19Also, I have to confess that, after a lot of this,
0:21:19 > 0:21:24I became...a bit put off
0:21:24 > 0:21:29by the sort of use of maximum force,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and I became fascinated by the soldiering of guile.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41And so, in 1964, Paddy put himself forward for the naval
0:21:41 > 0:21:45equivalent of the SAS - the elite Special Boat Section,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49which specialises in secret operations behind enemy lines.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55The standards set are very high and very demanding
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and not for the faint-hearted.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00You've got to be exceptional to get into Special Boat Section.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Only 30% get through the gruelling selection process.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10I was one of his sergeants when he joined.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Part of it was the parachute jump
0:22:12 > 0:22:16and I always remember Paddy looking very apprehensive
0:22:16 > 0:22:18and that's the only time I have ever seen him apprehensive
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and I don't think, even at the end, he was actually too keen on parachuting.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Never liked parachuting, always hated parachutes, it's always
0:22:24 > 0:22:26struck me as being, you know,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28contrary to human nature to throw yourself
0:22:28 > 0:22:32out of an aircraft at 1,000 foot, with a perfectly serviceable aircraft,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34but I did like the diving.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37I am not fazed at all by being in inky blackness
0:22:37 > 0:22:40under 30,000 tonnes of warship on a dark night.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42I am not fazed by the claustrophobia.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Their mission accomplished, the frogmen have to get away, but quick.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Of course, there are probably quite a lot of one-armed Marines going about these days.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55But working in the Special Boat Section wasn't
0:22:55 > 0:22:57all about physical strength and courage.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04You were trained in how to cope with interrogation
0:23:04 > 0:23:08if you were caught so, therefore, they had to put you through
0:23:08 > 0:23:10the kind of things, the kind of torture,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13- that an enemy would put you through. - Well, in those days,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16the main element that you used for interrogation is sleeplessness,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19sleep deprivation, and it's quite difficult.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22But my interrogator, who I used to meet every year,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26he said to me once, "You know, Paddy, you won't
0:23:26 > 0:23:29"be broken by physical hardship, but I know how I'd break you.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33"I'd stick you in a cell and make you do nothing for three days."
0:23:33 > 0:23:36And the truth is he's right, because having to sit down
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and do nothing, it's one of the reasons I can't retire.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42- It frightens me to death. - So you'd come out screaming, "I'll tell you everything"
0:23:42 > 0:23:45"I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything! Give me something to do!"
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Did the SBS shape your politics?
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Enormously. I was first Labour.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Well, we're all entitled to the follies of youth.
0:23:53 > 0:24:00In the SBS I found myself, Fern, commanding young men,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03who were, by any standard,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07better at the profession we were all involved in than I was.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13And I was in a position of commanding them because of
0:24:13 > 0:24:17an accident of birth, and I detest the class system, utterly detest it.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21He had the idea that everyone could do anything they want to do.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25I had no qualification, never thought of being an officer,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27and Paddy said, "You can do it."
0:24:27 > 0:24:34I thought, "Now, what kind of country would we have if we had
0:24:34 > 0:24:39"a genuine meritocracy, if you genuinely got on according to your ability?"
0:24:39 > 0:24:41He persisted and persisted and persisted
0:24:41 > 0:24:44and without that I wouldn't have got commissioned.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48I think that sense of comradeship, of common destiny and,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51above all, believing in each other's ability is, in a sense, what shaped
0:24:51 > 0:24:56the set of political beliefs that eventually, not at the time,
0:24:56 > 0:24:57became liberalism.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02The other thing I have to thank Paddy for is a very gammy right leg.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06He injured me playing rugby and it's never been the same since.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12In 1969, Paddy was back in the Far East.
0:25:12 > 0:25:13But this time as a student.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16During his military service,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20he'd discovered a love for languages and so took the unusual step
0:25:20 > 0:25:23of a three-year sabbatical to learn Chinese.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Jane and their two young children joined him.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32You went to Hong Kong. You started to learn Chinese.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34How many languages do you speak now?
0:25:36 > 0:25:38I have forgotten six.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40You have forgotten six.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42How many do you remember?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45If you don't use a language you forget it, but I have
0:25:45 > 0:25:49learnt or tried to learn Malay and then Dayak,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51when I was up deep in the jungles of Borneo,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54because those are the people we lived among.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56They were still head-hunters, so it wasn't a bad idea to
0:25:56 > 0:25:59learn their language. Wasn't a very difficult language.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Then I came back and tried to learn German, but I can't do it at the same depth as I used to.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:26:05 > 0:26:07When it comes to languages, there's another politician who can
0:26:07 > 0:26:11compete with Paddy - ex Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:26:14 > 0:26:16In terms of the number of languages, I think
0:26:16 > 0:26:20I can probably run him close on that one, but in terms of impenetrable,
0:26:20 > 0:26:25indecipherable and exotic languages, he's definitely got the top prize.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I just speak a few European languages.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35With his student days over, Paddy returned to soldiering for
0:26:35 > 0:26:39one final deployment - back home in Northern Ireland.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43In 1970, he took command of one of the units
0:26:43 > 0:26:48brought in to keep the peace between Belfast's divided community -
0:26:48 > 0:26:52the Protestant Unionist majority and the Catholic Nationalist minority.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54- Thank you.- There you are, love.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58- That's for after your lunch, for after your dinner. - Thank you very much.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02When I first went into Belfast, the Catholics welcomed us
0:27:02 > 0:27:06with cups of tea and bacon butties, because we were their saviours.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08And somehow or other, we lost their confidence.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10SHOUTING
0:27:14 > 0:27:15EXPLOSION
0:27:18 > 0:27:22You decided to go and seek out the local leader of the IRA?
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Oh, you've got all the secrets!
0:27:24 > 0:27:30Yeah. So, one day, I left my weapons and my Marines behind.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33I was still in uniform, wandered up the road, knocked on his door,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and I said, "I gather you are the IRA commander here
0:27:36 > 0:27:39"and I am the British commander."
0:27:39 > 0:27:42I thought it wouldn't do any harm for him to know
0:27:42 > 0:27:44that I knew where he lived.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48But the next day, the IRA put me on their death list
0:27:48 > 0:27:52and I was given a considerable rocket
0:27:52 > 0:27:56by my commanding officer for doing such a foolish thing.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I genuinely believed that, surely, there must be some way
0:27:59 > 0:28:03around this problem, rather than this confrontation between ourselves
0:28:03 > 0:28:04and the Catholics.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12Over 30 years later, Paddy worked alongside one of the Republicans
0:28:12 > 0:28:15he believed had put him on the death list back in 1970.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20So when I went back to Belfast, I said to him,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23"If I'd have seen you here 30 years ago, I'd have arrested you."
0:28:23 > 0:28:26He said, "Not if I'd have seen you coming first or I'd have shot you!"
0:28:26 > 0:28:27BOTH LAUGH
0:28:28 > 0:28:30He's a really lovely man.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33- Now that the violence is over. - Well, he probably was then.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36He was a man prepared to take risks with his life for the things
0:28:36 > 0:28:38he believed in. I can't disagree.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43I may disagree with the methods which they got up to, particularly some of the more violent ones,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45but if I'd have been brought up in Belfast,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49as a Catholic, in the Ardoyne, given my nature,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53I wouldn't be surprised if I'd ended up a member of the IRA, too.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58What a... What a confession.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03No, you know, you are the product of your upbringing.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08I hope that, you know, some of the terrible pieces of terrorism
0:29:08 > 0:29:12you would have resisted, but would I have been a supporter of those
0:29:12 > 0:29:15who, in the end, felt they had to take more strenuous action?
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Given my nature, I probably would have been.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19There is no question about that.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25During his time serving in Belfast, Paddy once again saw how
0:29:25 > 0:29:27religion could cause hatred.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32Yet, he did have an experience that gave him a sense of the divine.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35You went off training on an exercise in Scotland
0:29:35 > 0:29:38and you said you had what you describe as a religious experience.
0:29:38 > 0:29:39I've had two.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43I suppose we all have them and I suppose it's not unusual.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47We were... I had taken my company up to Arran island
0:29:47 > 0:29:51and we had moved up onto the summit of Goat Fell.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54It was one of those bitterly, bitterly cold nights.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59The moon was shining crisp, clear, frosty night, still,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02traces of snow still around on the top of the mountain.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06And I looked down and the whole of the Firth of Clyde was laid out
0:30:06 > 0:30:07down below me.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13And it was a moment of just extraordinary exhilaration.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17And I just... I remember saying...
0:30:17 > 0:30:20It was a quasi-religious experience, maybe it was a religious experience.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24I just felt, you know, there has to be something more than this
0:30:24 > 0:30:28and if that helps you to lead your life a little bit better,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30surely that's a good thing.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Back home in Somerset, Paddy had another moment of epiphany,
0:30:37 > 0:30:39this time in his political beliefs.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Tell me about your conversion to liberalism.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Well, I suspect the conversion actually occurred many years
0:30:46 > 0:30:50before and this was a little pile of tinder ready to be lit.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53So, here I am, and a knock on the door.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57So I go and open it, and this man, he was wearing an anorak.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00He certainly had sandals, and he may have had a bobble hat.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04And he said, "Hello, I am from the Liberals."
0:31:04 > 0:31:08And I said, "Go away." I thought that the Liberals weren't
0:31:08 > 0:31:12worth considering because they were this tiny thing that didn't
0:31:12 > 0:31:15matter, and I can't imagine why, but I said,
0:31:15 > 0:31:19"I tell you what, I'll give you my vote if you can persuade me to be a Liberal. Come in, sit down."
0:31:19 > 0:31:21I think just about there.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Two hours later, I had discovered from this unlikely
0:31:25 > 0:31:30angel of fate, that I had, in fact, been a Liberal all my life.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33And I've tried to find him since locally and I can't.
0:31:33 > 0:31:39And quite literally, I took down liberalism like an old coat
0:31:39 > 0:31:41hanging in the cupboard, ready for me to choose it
0:31:41 > 0:31:45and it felt comfortable then and it's felt comfortable ever since.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52When Paddy cast his first vote for the Liberal Party,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55it was by proxy from Geneva in Switzerland.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59It was the beginning of 1974.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02He'd left the Army for a new career with the Foreign Office
0:32:02 > 0:32:05that appeared to be nothing more than a desk job.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10You went to Geneva on a job with the Civil Service, and I can say
0:32:10 > 0:32:13the word but you are going to find it difficult - you were a spy.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17I am allowed to say, and I will not say more,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20because I promised I wouldn't, the undertaking I took,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24I can say I was working in the area of intelligence - yes.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27I don't think a spy - that's a bit overdramatic.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30But I like it. It's romantic.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32Well, it was an extraordinary, it was an extraordinary
0:32:32 > 0:32:35part of our lives, Jane was very much part of it, too.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38My other job was being a diplomat, that was what I was supposed to be.
0:32:38 > 0:32:39Your "day job" was diplomat.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44My day job was a diplomat, erm, it was the era when the Cold War,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46the Cold War intelligence war was still in place.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51Occasionally, you and Jane would go somewhere where you needed to be
0:32:51 > 0:32:55on the pretext that, "Oh, we are just travelling and we're coming to see the opera..."
0:32:55 > 0:32:58You are very naughty, Fern, I'm not going to tell you anything about that.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01There was an occasion when we had a fascinating trip
0:33:01 > 0:33:05to a western capital on the grounds
0:33:05 > 0:33:08that we were taking a holiday, which included seeing opera,
0:33:08 > 0:33:13as you rightly say, but more than that it would be improper for me to say.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Was it mission accomplished?
0:33:15 > 0:33:18- That would be improper, too. - Damn you!
0:33:18 > 0:33:19I have to eat you if I say that.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23I'm going to put you in a room for three days and then you'll tell me.
0:33:23 > 0:33:24BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Paddy might have stayed on in Geneva working anonymously
0:33:31 > 0:33:35in the service of his country, but there were two reasons why he began
0:33:35 > 0:33:36to rethink his future.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39One was his recent conversion to liberalism,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43the other was the political situation back home in Britain.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48There we were living in Geneva, living the life of Riley,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52and everybody back at home was having a pretty tough time
0:33:52 > 0:33:54and things were pretty hard.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03Britain in 1974 was a country in crisis marked by
0:34:03 > 0:34:07rampant inflation, industrial unrest and power cuts.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12I remember coming home from school
0:34:12 > 0:34:15and my mother would have the candles ready and make up some food,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18- because you wouldn't be able to heat it in the oven and...- Yes.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22All of those things. But what shocked me
0:34:22 > 0:34:26was we really seriously discussed who was running Britain - was
0:34:26 > 0:34:30it the elected government of the day or was it the trades union movement?
0:34:30 > 0:34:34And, you know, I just could not bear the idea that the country that
0:34:34 > 0:34:37I loved was in such a terrible state
0:34:37 > 0:34:42and so I took what was, with Jane's agreement,
0:34:42 > 0:34:47the most irresponsible, stupid, irrational decision of my life.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50He said to me,
0:34:50 > 0:34:52"I think I want to go into politics."
0:34:52 > 0:34:55# I'm going to change the world, baby
0:34:55 > 0:34:58# I'm going to change the world
0:34:59 > 0:35:01# I'll switch the wrong to right
0:35:01 > 0:35:03# You can bet your life... #
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Paddy set his sights on becoming a Parliamentary candidate
0:35:06 > 0:35:10for Jane's home constituency of Yeovil in Somerset.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14I was absolutely 100% behind him,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17although I'm a bit more left-wing than Paddy is.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Of course, he had to persuade the local Liberal Party
0:35:21 > 0:35:24selection committee that he was the right man for the job.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27He gave us this incredibly rousing speech.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30And then we all stood up and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah,
0:35:30 > 0:35:31"we must have this guy."
0:35:31 > 0:35:34And I went home and I said to my husband,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37"Some of those people there have no idea what they have taken on
0:35:37 > 0:35:40"and things will never be the same with this guy."
0:35:42 > 0:35:46The Yeovil campaign was mission impossible, nationally and locally.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50The Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe had recently resigned amidst
0:35:50 > 0:35:52a scandal that involved sex and murder.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56And Yeovil was a seat the Liberals had almost no chance of winning.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01We were third in the previous election.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05The Tories had been in power since 1910.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08They did not count their majorities,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11they weighed them, and I said, sort of gleefully,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14"I am going to be a Member of Parliament for Yeovil."
0:36:14 > 0:36:16I thought I was such a remarkable, wonderful person
0:36:16 > 0:36:19that the idea that I wouldn't be elected just
0:36:19 > 0:36:20never occurred to me.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25I recognised I might have to open a strawberry cream tea or two
0:36:25 > 0:36:27but people would want me as their MP.
0:36:34 > 0:36:35Good evening to you.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39The first time I stood in '79, when I lost, um -
0:36:39 > 0:36:44my father was alive then, he was sitting here when I got back -
0:36:44 > 0:36:46that was pretty devastating, actually.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51He had worked really, really hard
0:36:51 > 0:36:55and that's probably the only time I've known him to be ill.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Um, and he really was quite down for three or four weeks.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04It was just...horrendous, really.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06The only thing was that we had come second.
0:37:08 > 0:37:14Which was a big...better than coming third.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19And then he grabbed us all by the scruff of the necks and said,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22"Right, come on, we're going to carry on with this."
0:37:24 > 0:37:29The next four years were tough for Paddy, Jane and the children.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Paddy's father died and, for a while, he was unemployed.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41Polling Day on 9th June 1983 was the last throw of the dice.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48Paddy and I tootled in our awful broken-down little red Renault 5
0:37:48 > 0:37:52over the hill into Yeovil and he said,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56"You know, if we don't do it this time, we can't go on.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58"We really can't sustain this
0:37:58 > 0:38:02"and I can't put the kids through this anymore."
0:38:02 > 0:38:03And so it was make or break.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Paddy is not great on Election Day, cos he can be quite
0:38:11 > 0:38:14a prophet of doom, especially when the stakes are very high.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17He would prowl around like a caged lion.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19Being miserable and saying, "Oh, God, look,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22"they're not voting for me and I'm going to lose."
0:38:22 > 0:38:25"It's all going dreadfully, The people are not coming out."
0:38:25 > 0:38:28He used to get up everybody's noses.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32We have, at stages, had to say to him, "Go and do something else."
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Every ballot paper, cos you can see them as they are being
0:38:37 > 0:38:40counted, that hasn't got a cross against your name, is a personal
0:38:40 > 0:38:44arrow in your heart. Maybe I just take it, maybe I've got a thin skin.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46But that night, my agent came to me
0:38:46 > 0:38:48and said, "Paddy, I think we've done it."
0:38:48 > 0:38:54Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Liberal Alliance candidate,
0:38:54 > 0:38:5626,608.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03And that night was just euphoric. It was just amazing.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06We hardly believed it and the children were delighted.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Of course, we all had a good cry, all four of us, I think,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13and, erm, well, we'd done it.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Let's see that result from Yeovil, the first Liberal gain of the night.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20By a hefty majority - 3,400.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23If somebody said to me, "We're going to have put one
0:39:23 > 0:39:28"line on your tombstone, what is it that you are most proud of?"
0:39:28 > 0:39:31I have absolutely no doubt, the thing I am most proud of is being
0:39:31 > 0:39:34Member Of Parliament for the constituency that I live in and love.
0:39:34 > 0:39:40So that irresponsible decision was also the best decision of my life.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42LAUGHTER AND CHEERING
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Within just five years of becoming an MP, Paddy Ashdown became
0:39:47 > 0:39:49leader of his party.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52What is Paddy Ashdown going to do? Five years?
0:39:52 > 0:39:55I mean, after five years, I hardly knew my way around the place
0:39:55 > 0:39:58and there are colleagues who feel the same as I do.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01You got elected and then in 1988 you became leader.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06Yeah, yeah. Mind you, the party was a bit of a wreck then.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08It was ramshackle and virtually bankrupt.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Three hours before I was elected, announced I was elected as the leader
0:40:12 > 0:40:15of the Liberal Democrats, the tax officials had been round to
0:40:15 > 0:40:18close down the organisation because we hadn't paid our taxes.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21We were within the margin of error of nothing in the opinion polls.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25I think I am the only party leader who has presided over
0:40:25 > 0:40:28a political party represented by an asterix in the opinion poll,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32denoting that no detectable support could be found for us anywhere in the land.
0:40:32 > 0:40:38OK, OK, order, order, order... Thank you. A little bit of quiet, please.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40And in those first years, as we were trying to
0:40:40 > 0:40:42build the party up, I used to have nightmares
0:40:42 > 0:40:43that scared me to death.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47Because my nightmare was very simple. You know, would
0:40:47 > 0:40:52the party of the great William Ewart Gladstone end with Paddy Ashdown?
0:40:52 > 0:40:55And it looked to me as though it might.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58The chap at the back with the dark brown hair.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03Oh, me. Er, could you tell me the way to Oldthorpe Avenue, please?
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Typical, there's always one, isn't there?
0:41:08 > 0:41:09Paddy took the party at a time
0:41:09 > 0:41:12when it was perilously close to extinction,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15you know, even more perilously close to the edge than
0:41:15 > 0:41:18we are even now, after the election result we had this year.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21And he took it by the scruff of the neck and singlehandedly,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24through force of personality, through energy,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27through commitment, picked the party up
0:41:27 > 0:41:31and turned it into the party that eventually entered into government
0:41:31 > 0:41:32in the 2010 general election.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36# Don't believe the stories We can beat the Tories
0:41:36 > 0:41:40# We're the toughest gang in town... #
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Paddy sees everything as a sort of Marine battle.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Indeed, in advance of a general election campaign,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48he would talk about air battles and ground battles.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50# In the Lib Dems
0:41:50 > 0:41:53# You can do just what you please... #
0:41:53 > 0:41:55When the going got tough, he didn't duck.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59You have to be stubborn if you're going to be a successful leader. You have to stick to your guns.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02You may think the Liberal Party is just a party that wins
0:42:02 > 0:42:05by-elections and little else. Well, we're partly that, but we're a lot more...
0:42:05 > 0:42:09When Paddy comes on talking about politics, I tend to turn it off.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11Where are you going? You, you, come back here.
0:42:13 > 0:42:19- John!- There was one engagement Paddy did not relish.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23That was facing a particularly formidable adversary
0:42:23 > 0:42:25every Wednesday at midday.
0:42:25 > 0:42:26Oh, of course.
0:42:28 > 0:42:29BIG BEN CHIMES
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Of course, you have to face Mrs Thatcher across
0:42:33 > 0:42:37the House of Commons floor and she's doing PMQs.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39Yes. She was just formidable.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43I don't think there is anything I have done in my life, ANYTHING
0:42:43 > 0:42:46I have done in my life, which scared me to death as much as having
0:42:46 > 0:42:49to ask Mrs Thatcher at the height of her powers.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Every week, I'd try and pop up and she'd go...pom, pom!
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Is she determined to remain in the past
0:42:57 > 0:43:00and condemn this country to a future without friends,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04without influence, and without a role in Europe in the future?
0:43:05 > 0:43:10What nonsense. The Honourable Gentleman comes out with that question almost every time
0:43:10 > 0:43:13like a cracked gramophone record.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17She was an extraordinary woman.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Great legs, too.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22Well, I hear that people found her very attractive.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24- I wouldn't go that far! - Could you see through that?
0:43:24 > 0:43:26In the end, I got the hang of it, in the end.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31I mean... If I... I'm very nervous when I speak, I get very, very nervous.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34My voice goes up in the register a bit.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38And I have a habit of sounding quite pompous.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Erm, and I know that. There was a great joke that was going
0:43:41 > 0:43:44round at the time - what's on Paddy Ashdown's answer machine?
0:43:44 > 0:43:48Please leave your message after the high moral tone.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55But in February 1992, Paddy earned one of the most memorable
0:43:55 > 0:43:59nicknames in British politics - for all the wrong reasons.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Being in Westminster, of course, is tiring, you get lonely,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12and you know what I am going to ask you next. Erm, you had an affair
0:44:12 > 0:44:14with your personal secretary, Tricia Howard.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17And all I want to say is, what were you thinking?
0:44:17 > 0:44:19What was that about?
0:44:19 > 0:44:21Haven't a clue. Well, you have said it.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24Look, Fern, this was how many years ago?
0:44:24 > 0:44:26It's a perfectly legitimate question.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29But, honestly, I have said all I need to say about that.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31Don't need to say any more.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Fair enough. Uncomfortable and difficult, and one of those things.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Yeah, very, very difficult and very difficult for everybody
0:44:38 > 0:44:40and, you know, I can only say what I said at the time -
0:44:40 > 0:44:43an act of great stupidity, mine, not hers,
0:44:43 > 0:44:50and, erm, you know, all you can do is regret the mistakes you make.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53There but for the grace of God go an awful lot of people.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58Yeah, but that doesn't excuse, you know, the fact that you go there,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01that's the kind of excuse you make.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04I think it's... Anyway, look, there we are.
0:45:04 > 0:45:05Jane deserves a medal.
0:45:05 > 0:45:11Jane deserves a medal for almost everything. She deserves a medal...
0:45:11 > 0:45:15I don't suppose I'd be an easy person to live with at all.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17- JOURNALISTS CLAMOUR - What Paddy said stands.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20Jane forgave him, and Paddy's marriage,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23career and reputation survived the scandal.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27I don't think this has any relevance to Mr Ashdown's policies
0:45:27 > 0:45:29or his capabilities.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I don't believe it's a political issue.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32Let's get on to Bosnia,
0:45:32 > 0:45:38which really is the thing that you have been passionate about.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42Well, I first went to Bosnia when the war broke out
0:45:42 > 0:45:45and it changed my life completely.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50- REPORTER:- To avoid fire from the ground, the aircraft flew fast and low,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52a taste of wartime conditions for Mr Ashdown...
0:45:54 > 0:45:57The Bosnian War, which began in 1992, was
0:45:57 > 0:46:01fought between the different ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07Entire communities were destroyed by indiscriminate shelling.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10There was systematic rape and ethnic genocide.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14This was, in many ways,
0:46:14 > 0:46:19a World War I-style war, but in a modern setting.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22And the world watched and did absolutely nothing.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Paddy Ashdown seemed to be the only MP who took enough of an interest
0:46:27 > 0:46:29actually to turn up.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31- BELL ON ARCHIVE REPORT:- A single mortar round landed
0:46:31 > 0:46:3615 metres in front of Mr Ashdown's vehicle, but it was as close a call as any British soldier has had.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40What did you find when you first went to Bosnia?
0:46:40 > 0:46:43The old plague, the old baleful plague that I had seen in
0:46:43 > 0:46:48Northern Ireland, but now with much more blood and much more violence.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50He was leading the party in the House of Commons
0:46:50 > 0:46:54and the country, and there he was yomping all over ex-Yugoslavia.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56His party thought he was bonkers to do it.
0:46:56 > 0:47:00- JANE ASHDOWN:- He was known in the House of Commons
0:47:00 > 0:47:05as the Right Honourable Member for Sarajevo which, if only some of those other people had seen
0:47:05 > 0:47:07what he'd seen, perhaps they would have understood why.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13Paddy met the Bosnia Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic -
0:47:13 > 0:47:15currently awaiting the verdict in his trial for war crimes.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18In Sarajevo, there will be not a single fight...
0:47:18 > 0:47:21You say that Karadzic was actually quite charming?
0:47:21 > 0:47:28I went to see him and we spent a long night drinking plum brandy,
0:47:28 > 0:47:30under the stars, with his wife.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32Um...
0:47:32 > 0:47:36I had always presumed, Fern, that you could see great evil
0:47:36 > 0:47:37in a man's face.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42I have to say, I couldn't, and for 24 hours,
0:47:42 > 0:47:43I was actually fooled by him.
0:47:43 > 0:47:49So, the presumption that evil shines out from a face, I think is
0:47:49 > 0:47:50dangerous nonsense.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Paddy accepted an invitation from Karadzic to
0:47:57 > 0:48:00travel behind Serbian lines.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04But he refused to stick to the itinerary planned for him.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07At this stage, death camps were beginning to be
0:48:07 > 0:48:10exposed by some extremely brave journalists
0:48:10 > 0:48:14and I knew there were two that had not yet been visited
0:48:14 > 0:48:20and I demanded to go to Manjaca, which was an old army camp, and
0:48:20 > 0:48:24the Serb generals said no, and they said, "If you go, we'll shoot you."
0:48:24 > 0:48:27And I had the television cameras with me and I said to them,
0:48:27 > 0:48:32"If you're going to shoot me, you are going to have to shoot me in front of these guys. We're going."
0:48:32 > 0:48:35- REPORTER:- After hours of diplomacy, he was allowed into Manjaca.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38And that was the first television cameras that ever
0:48:38 > 0:48:40got into Manjaca camp.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42The camp commandant had promised Paddy Ashdown total freedom
0:48:42 > 0:48:45to see whatever he wanted.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49In the event, he was told time was running out.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55We were able that night to top the news with pictures
0:48:55 > 0:48:59of the emaciated Muslim young men and boys, lined up by the hundreds.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04And how are conditions here?
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Ten years later,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10when Paddy was called to testify at The Hague about other crimes he'd
0:49:10 > 0:49:15witnessed, he learned what happened in Manjaca camp after his visit.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20I was told by one of the prosecutors in The Hague, who had spoken
0:49:20 > 0:49:23to some of those men, he'd asked them, "Had you been killed?"
0:49:23 > 0:49:27And he said, "Yes, we were killed until a British politician
0:49:27 > 0:49:30"came along one day and brought the television cameras
0:49:30 > 0:49:33"and the Red Cross arrived next day and no-one was killed after that."
0:49:33 > 0:49:37That was the best day's work in my life, there is no question about it.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Paddy also visited a second camp - Trnopolje.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47But what happened there, a few days after he left, was horrifying.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54The Serbs arrived in the camp, took most of them away,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57and they took them to the edge of a cliff
0:49:57 > 0:49:59of a mountain called Vlasic Mountain
0:49:59 > 0:50:03and they machine gunned them all into the ravine below.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07And sometimes, Fern, I even,
0:50:07 > 0:50:12I even torture myself, with the thought, which I can't disprove,
0:50:12 > 0:50:15was that it was my visit there
0:50:15 > 0:50:18that caused the Serbs to react in that way.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22So sometimes you can take action which does good
0:50:22 > 0:50:23and I think the first of those days,
0:50:23 > 0:50:25probably the best day of my life,
0:50:25 > 0:50:26but the second day would be
0:50:26 > 0:50:30the blackest and perhaps the most shameful because of what happened
0:50:30 > 0:50:31as a consequence.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35And I can't get rid of a feeling of responsibility for that.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46- REPORTER:- Today, for the last time, it was Paddy Ashdown's day at a Liberal Democrat conference.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49It was always Paddy's plan to bow out from the front line
0:50:49 > 0:50:51of politics before he was 60.
0:50:51 > 0:50:57And so he stood down from leadership of the Liberal Democrats in 1999.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59And as MP for Yeovil two years later.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02May the sun shine warm upon your face,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05and the rain fall soft upon your fields,
0:51:05 > 0:51:09and until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Good luck.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16In politics, people hang on too long
0:51:16 > 0:51:19and it all ends in tears. Well, it didn't, and I am glad of that.
0:51:21 > 0:51:28In 2001, Paddy entered the Lords as Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31His illustrious career was celebrated on television with
0:51:31 > 0:51:33the famous Red Book.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35Before you do that, let me say welcome to the BBC,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38because, Paddy Ashdown, This Is Your Life.
0:51:38 > 0:51:39Don't be ridiculous!
0:51:42 > 0:51:44Ian, what is this nonsense?
0:51:44 > 0:51:46Paddy's the worst gossip in the world
0:51:46 > 0:51:47and the most indiscreet person.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49And we love him for it.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52But at the same time, he doesn't like secrets being kept with him.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54I remember, to this day, walking off down the corridor while
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Michael Aspel was leading Paddy, and Paddy's just shouting, "Ian, Ian!"
0:51:58 > 0:52:00- Follow me, sir.- Ian!
0:52:00 > 0:52:06This Is Your Life was a low point in our relationship.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09Flown in from Melbourne, with your sister Alison, your brother Tim.
0:52:09 > 0:52:10Heavens above!
0:52:10 > 0:52:13But he loved it at the end of the day, he loved seeing people
0:52:13 > 0:52:15he hadn't seen for many, many years.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Paddy Ashdown, This Is Your Life.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23The Red Book might well have served
0:52:23 > 0:52:25as the coda to a distinguished career.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30But the Prime Minister of the day, Tony Blair, had a job for Paddy
0:52:30 > 0:52:34- back in Bosnia and Herzegovina - helping the country to rebuild.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36HE SPEAKS THE LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:52:37 > 0:52:40Blair went to the international community and said,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43"Look, this guy Paddy Ashdown has run the Lib Dems for 11 years,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47"so the Balkans are going to be a doddle."
0:52:47 > 0:52:49- MARTIN BELL ON ARCHIVE:- Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51is the most powerful man in Bosnia,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54more powerful than any colonial governor.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57In the dual role of UN High Representative
0:52:57 > 0:53:01and EU Special Representative, Paddy finally had substantial power.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06I describe this job as having a title out of Gilbert and Sullivan,
0:53:06 > 0:53:08and powers that would make a liberal blush.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10He'd been the leader of the party,
0:53:10 > 0:53:15but he'd never had a chance of doing what he did in Bosnia.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18So, really, if you think about it, those four years
0:53:18 > 0:53:21were the culmination of everything
0:53:21 > 0:53:23he'd worked for previously.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26And he was the only High Representative who really
0:53:26 > 0:53:27made an impact.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32There are many stories during his time in Bosnia, as you can imagine,
0:53:32 > 0:53:36but everything he did, he did through the prism of making life better for the people of Bosnia.
0:53:36 > 0:53:43It can be frustrating, knackering, er, tiring,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46but it is just a great job to have, a privilege to do it.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54One of his great tasks there and one of the great victories that he had
0:53:54 > 0:53:57was creating a cemetery for the people of Srebrenica
0:53:57 > 0:53:59killed in the massacre of '95.
0:54:00 > 0:54:06It was in July 1995 that units of the Bosnian Serb Army murdered more
0:54:06 > 0:54:13than 8,000 men and boys, Bosnian Muslims from the town of Srebrenica.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18You were there when the proper graveyard
0:54:18 > 0:54:22to put the remains of these poor people, who had lost...
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Yeah. We raised about five or six million euros.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29I passed the laws that enabled it to happen
0:54:29 > 0:54:34and together with the mothers of Srebrenica, we designed that graveyard.
0:54:36 > 0:54:42If you want a place to remember why you should not
0:54:42 > 0:54:47stand aside and do nothing in the face of genocide and great evil,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49go there.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53You will see 8,000 tombstones standing in the sun
0:54:53 > 0:54:57and you'll come away without any doubt about that conclusion.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59And I'm very proud of that.
0:55:01 > 0:55:02And on the day it was opened,
0:55:02 > 0:55:04I remember at the very end of the ceremony,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07there was an old man burying his son,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10as the women of the family stood round and watched.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12Paddy immediately took his jacket off,
0:55:12 > 0:55:14picked up a shovel, and helped them bury their son.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16And I think that symbolises Paddy.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18People think of him as a man of action,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22but he is also a man of great compassion and kindness, as well.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30When people think of Paddy Ashdown, they smile.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34He is a positive force and he... he makes people feel
0:55:34 > 0:55:37good about themselves, as much as anything else.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40I think he was one of those politicians who actually did
0:55:40 > 0:55:42command respect and deserve it.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47He's a very funny person. He makes you giggle.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51He's got a wonderful sense of humour, which I can't live without.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58And despite a lifetime witnessing the horror of war,
0:55:58 > 0:56:00he retains a sense of the divine.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05There is a great poem written by a man called Rabindranath Tagore,
0:56:05 > 0:56:07and he wrote a poem called The Celebration Of Diversity,
0:56:07 > 0:56:09which is a model for me.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11Erm, and it goes,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15"We are all the more one because we are many
0:56:15 > 0:56:18"For we have left an ample space for love in the gap where we were sundered,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22"Our unlikeness shines with the radiance of a common creation,
0:56:22 > 0:56:26"Like mountain peaks in the morning sun."
0:56:26 > 0:56:28And I have to say that the unlikeness,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32the multifarious differences of humanity are, to me, the greatest
0:56:32 > 0:56:36revelation of the divine, whatever divine you happen to believe in,
0:56:36 > 0:56:40and of our humanity and that, to me, is a sort of guiding creed, I think.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44So, Paddy, what does Christmas mean to you and the family?
0:56:44 > 0:56:46I adore Christmas.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Are you good at buying the presents and wrapping?
0:56:48 > 0:56:53No, wrapping... I can buy an occasional present and sometimes get it right.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58I am far too impatient to wrap things, so, no, you can tell sort of...
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Crumpled up, everything wrapped up with Sellotape,
0:57:01 > 0:57:03everybody knows my presents straight off from the outside.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07And what is your Christmas Day like, do you have a routine, a tradition?
0:57:07 > 0:57:11When I was an MP, we used to get up and we would always go off to
0:57:11 > 0:57:16- the unemployed, you know, the drop-in, the refuges... - Soup kitchen, yeah.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21Nowadays, I don't have that duty, so we tend to be slightly more
0:57:21 > 0:57:23selfish and indulgent.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26We go to church and I get great pleasure out of that.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30I adore our local church here, it's one of the jewels
0:57:30 > 0:57:32of Somerset, it was once called.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34Then we have a very late lunch,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38like most others, and then I have been known to go to sleep.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41- Paddy, I wish you a very happy Christmas- And you.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Thanks for having me on the programme.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50Well, I set out wanting to find out where the soldier finished
0:57:50 > 0:57:52and the politician started.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55But I think perhaps the politician started in the soldier
0:57:55 > 0:57:58and the soldier finished up in the politician.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01And maybe, who knows, Paddy Ashdown might have been the greatest
0:58:01 > 0:58:04prime minister this country never had.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07- Paddy.- Yes. - Could you call the dog, love?
0:58:09 > 0:58:13Next week, I'm meeting Baroness Brady.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17She's hard, she's tough. Please welcome Karren Brady.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19From running a football club in her early twenties...
0:58:19 > 0:58:22And he used to go, "What are your vital statistics?"
0:58:22 > 0:58:24I thought, "Here we go."
0:58:24 > 0:58:26..to advising Lord Sugar.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28Can I just say something?
0:58:28 > 0:58:31It is outrageous the way you're behaving.
0:58:31 > 0:58:35Karren Brady talks about balancing faith, family and career.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38And reveals her worst Christmas present ever.
0:58:38 > 0:58:39My husband bought me a frying pan.
0:58:39 > 0:58:41He nearly got it over his head!