he started from virtually nothing in yeovil, he was unemployed for a while, did all kinds of interestingr call community, he was a youth worker, fought his way up from nothing to becoming an mp, and that set an example about how the rest of us set an example about how the rest of us should campaign. he was a terrific role model for campaigning politician. and listening to the tributes coming into him this evening, what —— one is struck by the number of times people have talked about his honesty, his integrity, and his very strongly held principles. yes, indeed, and i think more than that, i think that period when he was at his peak as a party leader, he had a very positive view about the country. this was a relatively optimistic period and he was an optimistic man, and he gave really great leadership when it was needed. it was a pity, in a way, that his vision, which was that we should work in government with tony blair's administration wasn't realised because there was a labour landslide and his early treatment in dabbling our numbers of mps was slightly overshadowed but he did play a r

diplomat and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovillater in 1988, after the painful "geezer with. the edp m‘s—291a"; and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock bottom in the polls and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands, he's made his statement already and i'm perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded and in 1997 he guided it to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling the number of lib dems mps. by this stage, he'd already been contemplating the prospect of coalition government with labour. a joint cabinet committee was established and liberal democrats invited to talks at number ten. according to ashdown the plan to bring the lib dems into government foundered amid opposition from senior labour ministers and the thorny problem of electoral reform. in the liberal democrat leader, tony bla

he started his career in yeovil with very little, and she really built up a campaign, an organisationspat —— from scratch and used this as a model which he replicated on the international stage. he was full of life, full of ideas, and i knew him well, obviously, as an mp colleague and subsequently and he was a great inspiration. it was such a long career that it is hard to know at what point does start but remembering his time as liberal democrat leader, it was under his leadership that the party really went from a handful of mps to being a sizeable force. yes, where he took over, the party had just come out of the merger between the liberals and the merger between the liberals and the social democrats, it was quite a traumatic episode and the party was very wea k traumatic episode and the party was very weak at that stage. but he thought it up through campaigning, through successful campaigning in 1992 election and in 1997, we doubled our number of mps, and we then increased our strength again before he handed over to charles kennedy. serb vince cable, leader of the liberal democrats

his politics was much more rooted in yeoville, when he represented yeoville, and in the balkans, whenternational issues. it was an interesting mix. he was a politician to his fingertips in a sense but he did not likea to his fingertips in a sense but he did not like a lot of the practice and theatre around politics in westminster. you alluded to it, there, he was never really afraid to tell it straight to both his friends and colleagues. he gave you some words of advice about your newjob at facebook? yeah, he did. we talked about it at length before i decided to ta ke about it at length before i decided to take up the job. typical paddy, pointing out the risks, but also understood why taking up a challenge... and he was never someone challenge... and he was never someone to shirk a challenge. that was one thing that i always admired in him and tried to emulate, in a sense. as we all go through life, you know, it is always easier to sail away from the storm but he was often quite inclined to sail towards it, if i can put it that way. i think he is broadly right. that is why he relished

diplomat, and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovillater, in 1988, after the painful merger with the sdp that formed the liberal democrats, he became leader. i say to the millions out there who are concerned about poverty and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock bottom in the polls, and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands. he's made a statement already, and i was perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded, and in 1997 he guided it to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling the number of lib dem mps. charles kennedy is duly elected the leader... paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, handing the baton onto charles kennedy, and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia, at some personal risk, at the height of the war there. and in 2002, he became t

a diplomat and sometime on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovil1983. in 1988, after the painful merger with the sdp that formed the liberal democrats, he became leader. act the millions out there who are concerned about poverty and about unemployment, come and join its —— i say to be. the party was at rock bottom in the polls and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again. but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands. he has made a statement already and i was perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded, and in 1997 he guided it to his greatest election achievement in the 1920s, doubling the number of lib dem mps. charles kennedy is duly elected... paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, having the baton on to charles kennedy and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia at some personal risk, at the height of the war there. and in 2002 became the high r

bristol city beat everton 2—nil, reading and liverpool shared the points and west ham won 5—0 against yeoviln europe's champions cup. they were down at half time but came back to beat cardiff blues 51—25. 0ur rugby correspondent chrisjones was there. and half here, it looked like a upset was coming, but they played at half time here, it looked like a upset was coming, but they played some brilliant rugby and matthew for example, one of the scores of weekend. but saracens was a different beast after the interval, they upped their intensity and their accuracy and scored six second—half tries, seven in total with them both grabbing a couple and he was a man of the match playing nearly 60 minutes on his return after a calf problem. a big boost for england and for saracens. saracens remains unbeaten in europe, but ominously for the competition, both captain brent barrett and they were dissatisfied with today's performance. barrett said a warning, he said there was nowhere near the finished article. munster are top of their champions cup group — a comfortable 30 points to 5 win for them over castr

we have had some fog lingering about yeovil town in somerset.rrival of a weather front that will mark progress in the wee small hours. if this guy —— the sky stays clear, temperatures could drop. it will get away pretty prom ptly drop. it will get away pretty promptly brighter skies from northern britain. more widely further south provided we get rid of the fog it will be a decent day. more than today particularly in the south west. temperatures in double figures at best. notice the high pressure is still there but not doing it stuff for the northern half of britain are not keeping the weather fronts at bay for the you can expect a lot more cloud and certainly that rain going across the greater part of scotland tending to fizzle. bits and pieces for northern ireland. the blowers from the west and south—west. it will be quite mild for the time of year. i have changed into the second half of the weekend. not a great deal changes. the weather front of any memories just there again, flirting with the top end of scotland through the northern and west

he started from virtually nothing in yeoville, where he was unemployed for a while, doing interesting his way up from nothing to becoming their mp. that certain example about how we, the rest of us, should campaign. he served as a terrific role model for campaigning politicians. listening to the tributes coming into him this evening, one is really struck by the number of times people have talked about his honesty, his integrity and strongly held principles. yes, indeed. i think more than that, the period when he was at his peak as a party leader, he had a very positive view about the country. this was a relatively optimistic period and he was an optimistic man. he gave great leadership when it was needed and it was a pity that his vision, that we should work with labour in the administration wasn't realised because there was a labour landslide and his achievement in doubling our number of mps was slightly overshadowed. he played a major role in influencing the way that gap developed and took on that usual reform and made it his own. it's only a few weeks ago that it was revealed he wa

bristol city beat everton 2—nil, reading and liverpool shared the points and west ham won 5—0 against yeovil away from orginally planned. the copa libertadores final will be concluded in madrid on sunday. it was postponed and moved from buenos aires after river fans attacked the boca team bus as it arrived for the second leg of the final two weeks ago. the tie is level at two—all and kicks off again injust under an hour at the bernabeu stadium. our reporter mani djazmi is there. the fans have arrived, from buenos aires to the same number from their and thought to be troublemakers were turned away at the airport. 4000 police officers on duty at the month after the first leg, this match has to happen. the omens are good for river plate, and when the rio madrid's greatest players and they were both former overplayed players, they're very confident every time we attack, he said, we score. but even he admits that it is too tight to call. he has been given a private box by real madrid to watch this at the stadium, and they'll also be here, he is the head of south american football and it is he who

while chelsea are beating brighton 3—0 and west ham have a 4—0 lead over yeovil town early in the secondme to beat cardiff blues 51—25 — earning themselves a bonus point. and that was with three tries disallowed too. sarries are top of their group, the blues third. munster are top of their champions cup group — a comfortable 30 points to five win for them over castres. their three tries came in the second half — jj hanrahan with the pick of them. leicetser tigers are at racing 92 in france. they are losing going into the second half. ronnie o‘sullivan looks on course to win a record seventh uk championship title at the barbican in york. he‘s up against mark allen in the final and leads 6—2 after winning five frames in a row in the afternoon session. o‘sullivan only needs to win another four frames and the title will be his. coverage of the evening session is on bbc two from 7 o‘clock. the european cross country championships are underweay in tilburg in the netherlands, there are various age groups, we hadn‘t planned on showing you the men‘s under 23‘s, but this is the frenchman, jimmy gr

hejoins me via webcam from his yeovil constituency. thank you for speaking to us.ng? i'm afraid this idea of norway really doesn't stand scrutiny. as your piece said, it means we keep paying money. we don't have control of our borders, and we have control of our borders, and we have to take rules from the eu, and thatis have to take rules from the eu, and that is a disaster for businesses like the financial services, for example, it's their worst nightmare. it also goes against our manifesto promises, against the referendum result. i really don't think it's an a cce pta ble result. i really don't think it's an acceptable idea. and there are much better ideas out there. we want to have an advanced free trade agreement with the eu and would like agreement with the eu and would like a different protocol to give communities in the island of ireland confidence that they can use existing procedures available under eu law to mean there doesn't have to bea eu law to mean there doesn't have to be a hard border. do you really think that would work? as far as we are hearing,

who created this masterpiece on the abbey stadium pitch for the league two side's match against yeovilboth sides of the centre circle for symmetry. with show—stopping lifts, a dash of hollywood glamour and even a trampoline thrown in for good measure — last night's strictly saw one couple finally get their hands on the coveted glitterball trophy. so if you haven't had chance to watch it yet — you may want to leave the room now. documentary presenter stacey dooley and her professional partner kevin clifton won the public vote, despite being placed bottom of the judge's scorecards. our arts correspondent david sillito takes a look at how the night unfolded: it's the final! for couples, three dancers and from the very beginning, it was actually a formal pussycat doll who set the standard. the big lift from dirty dancing was flawless. ten! the score, perfect tens. and to those 40s kept coming. this athletic show dance on a raised and revolving platform. this athletic show dance on a raised and revolving platformlj this athletic show dance on a raised and revolving platform. i personally as

bristol city beat everton 2—nil, reading and liverpool shared the points and west ham won 5—0 against yeovilncluded in madrid on sunday. boca juniors' last—minute attempt to suspend the second leg against river plate has been rejected by the court of arbitration for sport. boca wanted their arch rivals disqualified after an attack on their team bus by riverfans... which forced the original tie in buenos aires to be postponed. and later moved. our reporter mani djazmi is in the spanish capital. the fans have arrived, to the same numberfrom the fans have arrived, to the same number from their and thought to be troublemakers were turned away at the airport. 4000 police officers on duty the month after the first leg, this match has to happen. the omens are good for river plate, and when the real madrid's greatest players and they were both former overplayed players, they're very confident every time we attack, he said, we score. but even he admits that it is too tight to call. he has been given a private box by real madrid to watch this at the stadium, and they'll also be here, he is the head of