After service as a Royal Marine Commando Officer, Paddy Ashdown served as a diplomat in the Foreign Office before being elected as the Member of Parliament for Yeovil, serving in that capacity from 1983 to 2001. In 1988 he became leader of the Liberal Democrats, standing aside after eleven years of leading his Party. Later he was appointed as the international community's High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving from 2002 to 2006.