John Major : Speeches : Paddy Ashdown
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Paddy Ashdown on John Major (August 2000)
Paddy Ashdown was the leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 2000.
"Major is quite different from Thatcher, He looks just like the man next door who became Prime Minister to both his surprise and ours. But he is effective in his own quiet way - the sort of surburban Baldwin of our times. Gentle, pleasant, courteous. Probably the most plainly decent man we have had in Downing Street in the 20th century." - Paddy Ashdown