Former Montgomeryshire MP Lord Carlile of Berriew has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for his work advising the UK government on anti-terrorism legislation over the last 10 years.
The honour for Alex Carlile, 63, comes after his elevation to the House of Lords in 1999 as a life peer and in 2001 he was appointed independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, hours before the 9/11 terror attacks.
He held that role under both Labour and coalition governments until his decision to stand down in February 2011.
During that time, he has often been an outspoken critic of moves he viewed as undermining human rights, and was highly critical of increased police "stop and search" powers.
However, as one of the UK's leading barristers - he was made QC at just 36 - Lord Carlile has also been a strong advocate of the controversial control orders, used to restrict the movements and activities of suspects police and MI5 believe are engaged in terrorism but who cannot be brought before the courts.
Lord Carlile told the BBC: “I was never looking for such a thing, but it's nice for one’s work to be recognised. It was challenging and I had to be conscious every single day that I was independent of the government and independent of any lobbying or special interest group.
“In my view the task was to get it right, even if that involved satisfying nobody.”
As a lawyer, Lord Carlile, defended Paul Burrell, butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, when he was acquitted of theft in 2002. He has also remained active in a number of high profile inquiries, and in November recommended that the Roman Catholic Church should give up control of schools if it wanted to ensure that pupils would be protected from paedophile clerics.
As an MP from 1983-1997, Lord Carlile also led the Welsh Liberal Democrats before standing aside for Lembit Opik to represent the shire.