National News
Election 2011 Candidates
Below are details of Havant's Liberal Democrat candidates.
Bedhampton - Tony Welch
Tony Welch spent his formative years and early married life in Bedhampton, living first on Parkside and then on Fortunes Way. After taking early retirement from the British Army, where he saw service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands conflict, Gulf War One and Bosnia, Tony has spent much of the last seventeen years working in post-conflict and developing countries. His experience ranges from Africa to the Balkans and to the Solomon Islands on the Pacific Rim.
Much of his work concerned governance programmes. In the early 1990s he was responsible for planning and coordination for the UN’s intervention in the former Yugoslavia. He was later appointed coordinator of the International Community’s scrutiny of elections in numerous transitional states. He then became head of the EU’s missions in Albania and Serbia & Montenegro. As an adviser to UK Department for International Development, at the end of the Nineties, he was involved in planning the UK’s intervention in Sierra Leone and Kosovo. He was then chosen to head the UK's post-conflict Development Mission in Kosovo and Macedonia.
In late 2000 he was appointed the UN Administrator, responsible for governing of the north of Kosovo, supporting a population of 350,000 people. In 2007 he was coordinator of a Security Review, which made recommendations for democratic governance and oversight in the independent state. He later advised the new Government on the drafting of their National Security Strategy.
Eight years ago he stood for election as a Havant Borough Councillor representing the Bedhampton Ward. He served in that capacity for five years, when he stood down for family and work reasons. During his time as a Councillor sat on the Development Committee, chaired the Standards Board and was leader of the Scrutiny Sub-Committee on the future of Broadmarsh. In 2004 he stood as a potential candidate for the European Parliament representing the West of England and Gibraltar, ranking second on the Party List.
In September 2010, Tony retired from full time employment. His final appointment was lecturing on governance, security and economics at Cranfield University. He now advises, on a part time basis, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson in the House of Lords and is a Governor of South Downs College.
For more information, please contact Tony by email (tony@havant-libdems.org).