MID Wales’ former MP Lord Carlile of Berriew has been honoured for his services to national security with a CBE.
Lord Carlile was Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire from 1983 until 1997 and he was made a life peer in 1999.
He has spent the last 10 years working as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism – a role in which he advised both the Labour and coalition governments on terrorism legislation.
Lord Carlile said he was pleased to have been honoured for his work and he thanked current Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies, who said: “I am pleased to see Lord Carlile of Berriew being awarded a CBE. He was my MP and our next door neighbour for the 14 years he served as Montgomeryshire's MP.”
He added: “Over the last few years he's done some great work on national security, and though a leading Liberal Democrat, is much admired in the Conservative Party.”
Lord Carlile said: “It’s very nice to have one’s work recognised in that way. Obviously it’s not something I expected and I am grateful for the comments that Glyn Davies MP has made in the his blog in the past few days, I think that’s very generous of him.”
Lord Carlile attributed his time as Montgomeryshire MP as the backbone for his career in public service.
He said: “All the public service work I have done in the last 30 years has been founded on the work I did as MP of Montgomeryshire from 1983 to 1997 which is a period I value enormously and look back on with great affection.”
Lord Carlile stepped down from his post as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism in February 2011 and he said he was confident that the United Kingdom had managed to strike the right balance between protection of civil liberties and national security.
But he added that despite the success in combating terrorism “I still cross my fingers and hope every day”.
He said: “During my period as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism every single day I was trying to balance between protection of national security and citizens going about their daily business and ensuring human rights are not breached.
“In my view good national security involves both sides of the equation – civil liberties and ensuring terror events do not occur.”
He added: “I have some reservations, but on the whole it is significant that there have been no major terrorist events in this country since July 2005 when 52 people were murdered in London. Eternal vigilance is still required.”