Ashdown tells of seduction aged 14

Published on Saturday 25 April 2009 20:00

PADDY Ashdown, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, has spoken publicly for the first time about his experience of being seduced by a teacher at the age of 14.

The former diplomat revealed the episode in his new autobiography, in which he describes a sexual relationship with a married female maths teacher. In an interview in Spectrum magazine today, he tells Catherine Deveney that it was a form of abuse.

Ashdown, now 68, was leader of the Lib Dems from 1988 to 1999 and was later appointed the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During his time as an MP it emerged he had had a five-month affair with his secretary, earning him the nickname 'Paddy Pantsdown'.

In the Scotland on Sunday interview, Ashdown says he was sent to boarding school in England from his home in Northern Ireland. Now known as Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, he said he was receiving maths lessons from a young married woman when she initiated a sexual relationship.

In the book he describes the woman's open blouse, the way she bent over his book and "allowed" her breast to brush against him.

"She dealt with my inexperience and gaucheness with kindness, tenderness and patience, and for this I have been eternally grateful to her," he adds.

Speaking about his decision to write about the experience he said: "I suppose I could have broken into a moralistic dialogue, but it would have seemed pretty anachronistic to do so.

"It was a rite of passage, and you are always grateful to those who help you through rites of passage. Let's assume I was a woman writing that - would I have told it differently? I honestly don't think so."

His autobiography, A Fortunate Life, also briefly describes the 1991 revelation of his affair. Documents were stolen from his solicitor's office that revealed a brief affair with his secretary, Tricia Howard, some years earlier. His wife Jane had forgiven him already and his opinion ratings went up in the wake of the scandal.

Ashdown also makes reference to former Lib Dem leader David Steel in somewhat unfavourable terms, describing hims as "a bastard behind the scenes".