Constituency : Bodmin 1974, Cornwall North 1997-2005
Paul recovered Bodmin from the Tories by just 9 votes.
Paul was educated at Sherborne School and Oxford. He became Britain's youngest county councillor in 1964. In 1966 he stood for Totnes coming third. He started working for the Royal Institute of British Architects that year. He also worked for Shelter, a local newspaper group, BBC South West as a presenter and a PR firm during his time out of Parliament.He stood for Bodmin in 1970 but was unable to hold it for the Liberals.
Paul was narrowly defeated in 1974 then the Tory pulled away in 1979 after the Thorpe scandal. In 1982 he stood in the Beaconsfield by-election where he moved the Liberals into second place pushing a young Tony Blair into third. He didn't stand in 1983 but worked as David Steel's campaigns organiser. He was chairman of the Liberal party from 1983 to 1986 but again declined to stand in 1987. He was part of John Pardoe's campaign team that year. He scored the best result for the liberal Democrats in the 1989 European elections standing for Cornwall and Plymouth.
Paul returned to the Commons in 1992 when he avenged Pardoe's defeat at Cornwall North. He became liberal spokesman on rural affairs and transport. He was a prominent critic of the government during the B.S.E. crisis. He also campaigned over the use of organophosphates. In 1997, Paddy Ashdown switched him to Chief Whip. He served on the Modernisation select committee. In 2001 he moved to shadow the Leader of the House as well as championing parliamentary reform.
Paul stood down in 2005 and was elevated to the Lords. He has continued to work on constitutional reform and his Constitutional Renewal Bill of 2009 received cross-party support.
Paul has also led campaigns on the St Piran's flag in Cornwall and the use of premium rate phone numbers by government departments.
He is now 77.
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