Ex Lib Dem leader Ashdown reveals he is fighting cancer
FORMER Lib Dem leader Lord Paddy Ashdown is being treated for bladder cancer, he revealed yesterday.
The ex-Royal Marine, 77, who was diagnosed about three weeks ago, described the prognosis as “unpredictable”.
He told his local Somerset Live website: “I’m being effectively and wonderfully looked after by everyone at Yeovil Hospital, in whom I have complete confidence.
“We must see about the outcome, which as always with things like this, is unpredictable. I’ve fought a lot of battles in my life. This time I am lucky enough to have the magnificent help of our local hospital, and my friends and family, and that gives me great confidence.”
Current Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable and predecessor Tim Farron were among colleagues wishing him well. A party spokesman said: “We know that he will fight this with the vigour of a person 40 years younger.”
Prime Minister Theresa May said: “I’m very sorry to hear he is being treated for cancer. I wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.”
Lord Ashdown led his party between 1988 and 1999, making him its longest-serving leader, and presided over a rise in its popularity.
He sought to build a path to co-operation with Tony Blair’s New Labour, then backed Nick Clegg’s decision to take the party into coalition with David Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010.
The pro-European strongly supported the Remain campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
After stepping down as an MP in 2001 he served for four years as the United Nations’ High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina and was a witness for the prosecution at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
In a less dignified episode, headline writers dubbed him Paddy Pantsdown in 1992 when he admitted a brief affair with his secretary five years earlier. He remains married to his wife, Jane.
Bladder cancer is the 10th most common cancer in the UK, where about 10,300 cases a year are diagnosed. It is more common in men and has a 10-year survival rate of about 50 per cent.