Paul Keetch

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Paul Keetch
Paul Keetch
In office
2 May 1997 – present
Preceded by Sir Colin Shepherd
Constituency Hereford
Majority 962 (2.1%)
Born 21 May 1961 (1961-05-21) (age 47)
Political party Liberal Democrats
Spouse Mrs. Keetch
Website www.paulkeetch.org.uk

Paul Stuart Keetch (born 21 May 1961, Hereford) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom.

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[edit] Early life

He went to Hereford High School for Boys (grammar school, since 1976 the comprehensive Aylestone School), then Hereford Sixth Form College. Keetch was elected a Liberal Hereford City Councillor in 1983. He was a self-employed business consultant from 1979-1995. Since 1996, he has been a non-executive director of the London Computer Company.

[edit] Political career

He is Member of Parliament for Hereford, and has been since 1997. He was the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Foreign Affairs from 1999-2001, and Defence from October 1999 until the May 2005 General Election.

In July 2005, Keetch succeeded Sharon Bowles MEP as Chair of the Liberal International British Group. He also sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee. He founded the Cider APPG.

He will step down at the next General Election [1] which under the provisions of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, must be held on or before 3 June 2010, barring exceptional circumstances.

The Liberal Democrats have selected Sarah Carr as their candidate to replace Mr Keetch for the revised Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency at the General Election. The local Conservative Party selected Jesse Norman to be their candidate.

[edit] Personal life

He married Claire Elizabeth Baker on 21 December 1991 and together they have one son.

On 8 July 2007 he was taken seriously ill whilst travelling to the United States on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow Airport. Onboard medics treated him as the pilot turned the aeroplane back to London, and he was admitted to London Chest Hospital. The following day a spokesman described his condition as "stable", though the cause of his illness remained undetermined.[2] Doctors eventually diagnosed him with idiopathic ventricular fibrillation and fitted an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator to combat any relapses, though his condition was described as a "one-off".[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Official site - Keetch to stand down at the next election retrieved 2006-12-24
  2. ^ Staff writer. "MP still recovering in hospital", BBC News Online, 2007-07-10. Retrieved on 2007-07-10. 
  3. ^ Morris, Ian. "Paul Keetch returns home to Hereford", Hereford Times Internet Edition, 2007-07-23. Retrieved on 2007-07-24. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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