Editing Paddy Ashdown (section)

== Retirement ==
[[File:Paddy Ashdown.jpg|thumb|Ashdown in 2016]]
In retirement, Ashdown became a regular voice for the Liberal Democrats. He publicly supported military strikes in Syria in 2013 and said he was ashamed after Parliament voted against them.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10275565/Syria-crisis-Paddy-Ashdown-ashamed-of-Britain-over-Commons-vote.html|title=Syria crisis: Paddy Ashdown 'ashamed' of Britain over Commons vote|first=Claire|last=Carter|date=30 August 2013|work=The Telegraph |access-date=2021-03-04}}</ref> At the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]] he appeared on the BBC soon after the announcement of the exit poll which predicted that the Liberal Democrats would be reduced from 57 MPs to 10. Ashdown said he would eat his hat if the exit poll was correct. The result was that the Liberal Democrats returned eight MPs, but the technical difference from the exit poll was not enough to save him from several requests to carry out his vow. Some commentators suggested humorously that this was an example of Liberal Democrats breaking their promises in response to U-turns conducted in the coalition government.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11591436/Paddy-Ashdown-I-will-eat-my-hat-if-that-poll-is-right.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510193800/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11591436/Paddy-Ashdown-I-will-eat-my-hat-if-that-poll-is-right.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 May 2015 |title=Video: Paddy Ashdown: I will 'eat my hat' if that poll is right |work=The Telegraph |date=8 May 2015 |access-date=25 July 2016}}</ref> The following day after the election, on the BBC's ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]'' programme, Ashdown was presented with a chocolate hat that he later ate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11594419/Lord-Ashdown-and-Alastair-Campbell-forced-to-eat-their-chocolate-hat-and-kilt.html|title=Lord Ashdown and Alastair Campbell forced to eat their (chocolate) hat and kilt|last=Prince|first=Rosa|work=The Telegraph|date=9 May 2015|access-date=16 May 2015}}</ref>

=== Offer of Cabinet post ===
In June 2007, the BBC reported that Ashdown had been offered and rejected the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] post of [[Northern Ireland secretary]] by incoming Labour Party prime minister [[Gordon Brown]]. Liberal Democrat leader [[Sir Menzies Campbell]] had already ruled out the idea that members of his party would take seats in a Brown Cabinet, but, according to the reports, Brown still approached Ashdown with the offer.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6224862.stm |title=Brown offered Ashdown Cabinet job |work=BBC News |date=21 June 2007 |access-date=22 November 2007}}</ref>

=== Offer of Afghanistan post ===
Ashdown was later asked by US secretary of state [[Condoleezza Rice]] and Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take charge of the Allied effort in [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7140551.stm |title=Dismantling the Taleban is the aim |first=Paul |last=Reynolds |work=BBC News |date=12 December 2007 |access-date=23 November 2007 |quote=The name of Lord (Paddy) Ashdown, who ran Bosnia-Herzegovina after the civil war, has been mentioned.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Abramowitz |first=Michael |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/16/AR2007121601823.html?hpid=topnews |title=Bush Faces Pressure to Shift War Priorities: As Iraq Calms, Focus Turns to Afghanistan |name-list-style=and |author2=Peter Baker |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=17 December 2007 |access-date=23 November 2007 |quote= European newspapers have focused on Paddy Ashdown, a British politician and envoy, but a former senior military officer said his appointment would be considered controversial and seems unlikely.}}</ref> though an unnamed source is quoted in a January 2008 [[Reuters]] report indicating that Ashdown was also approached by UN secretary-general [[Ban Ki-moon]] and met with the Afghan president [[Hamid Karzai]] secretly in Kuwait to discuss the post which he later accepted.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL1664024720080116?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717030846/http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL1664024720080116?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 July 2012 |title=Ashdown accepts job as U.N. Afghan envoy |first=Michael |last=Abramowitz |name-list-style=and |author2=Peter Baker |work=Reuters |date=16 January 2008 |access-date=16 January 2008 |quote=Yes, he has accepted the job<!--," the source said of an agreement between Ashdown, 66, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon-->.}}</ref> He later decided against taking the role after gleaning that Afghanistan preferred General [[Sir John McColl]] over him.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7211667.stm |title=Ashdown pulls out of Afghan role |work=BBC News |date=27 January 2008 |access-date=30 April 2010}}</ref> On 7 March, Norwegian diplomat [[Kai Eide]] was appointed as the UN representative for Afghanistan, stating "I'm not Paddy Ashdown, but don't under-estimate me."<ref>{{cite news|last=Leithead |first=Alastair |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7318452.stm |title= UN's new Afghan envoy begins work |work=BBC News |date=28 March 2008|access-date=30 April 2010}}</ref>

=== Other positions ===
Ashdown was a member of the Governing Council of [[Interpeace]], an international peacebuilding organisation,<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Interpeace |url=http://www.interpeace.org/index.php/about-us/governing-council |title=Governing Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401160743/http://www.interpeace.org/index.php/about-us/governing-council |archive-date=1 April 2015 |access-date= 7 February 2012}}</ref> and also served as President of [[Chatham House]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/patron-presidents-council-and-directors |title=Patrons, Presidents, Council and Directors|publisher=Chatham House|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911081154/http://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/patron-presidents-council-and-directors |archive-date=11 September 2012 |access-date= 29 September 2012}}</ref> He later chaired the Liberal Democrats' 2015 general election team.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Paddy Ashdown to chair Lib Dem 2015 election team |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19733918 |work=BBC News |date=26 September 2012 |access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref>

In 2016, Ashdown founded [[More United]] alongside several other public figures in the [[aftermath of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum]].<ref name=businessinsider /> More United is a liberal and progressive cross-party political movement.<ref name=businessinsider>{{cite news |last=Shead |first=Sam |title=Paddy Ashdown has launched a tech-driven political startup called More United that will crowdfund MPs across all parties |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/paddy-ashdown-has-launched-a-tech-driven-political-startup-called-more-united-2016-7 |access-date=23 December 2018 |work=Business Insider |date=24 July 2016}}</ref>