Editing Paddy Ashdown (section)

==== Leader of Liberal Democrats ====
[[File:PaddyAshdownCampaigning.jpg|thumb|Ashdown in [[Chippenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Chippenham]] during the 1992 general election campaign]]
When the Liberal Party merged in 1988 with the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democrats]] to form the [[Social and Liberal Democrats]] (their name shortened in 1989 to "Liberal Democrats"), he was [[1988 Social and Liberal Democrats leadership election|elected as the new party's leader]] and made a [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Councillor]] in January 1989.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil4.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607022558/http://leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil4.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 June 2008 |title=Privy Councillors |work=Leigh Rayment's Privy Councillors Pages |access-date=23 November 2007}}</ref>

Ashdown led the Liberal Democrats into two general elections, in [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992]] and [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]], and three European Parliament elections, in [[1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1989]], [[1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1994]] and [[1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1999]]. The Lib Dems failed to win any seats in the 1989 European Parliament election. They recorded a net loss of two seats in the 1992 general election when the party was still recovering from the after-effects of the 1988 merger. In 1994, the party gained its first two Members of the European Parliament.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/1994-figures/european-elections-1994 |title=The European Elections in 1994 |website=Europarl.org.uk |publisher=UK Office of the European Parliament |access-date=15 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120080146/http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/1994-figures/european-elections-1994 |archive-date=20 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> At the 1997 election, the Liberal Democrats won 46 seats, their best performance since the Liberal Party in the 1920s. However, they took a smaller share of the vote than in the 1992 election.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1997_over.stm |title=1997: Blair's landslide|work=BBC News |access-date=2021-03-04}}</ref> While the Liberal Democrats vote share decreased in the 1999 European Parliament election, the move from [[first-past-the-post]] to the [[D'Hondt method]] saw the party make a net gain of 8 seats.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/euros_99/regional_html/full_sop.stm|title=Euro Elections, Results – Great Britain and Northern Ireland|work=BBC News|access-date=8 June 2019}}</ref>

Between 1993 and 1997, he was a notable proponent of cooperation between the Liberal Democrats and "[[New Labour]]" and had regular secret meetings with [[Tony Blair]] to discuss the possibility of a [[coalition government]]. This was despite Labour's opinion poll showings from late 1992 onwards, virtually all suggesting that they would gain a majority at the next election, particularly in the first year or so of Blair's leadership following his appointment in mid-1994. The discussions began in early 1993, while the party was still being led by Blair's predecessor [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]], who died suddenly in May 1994. After Blair was elected as Labour leader, the talks continued.<ref>{{cite web |title=Breaking politics and political news for Westminster and the UK – PoliticsHome.com |url=http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/top-ten-lib-dem-breakthrough-moments/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509003559/http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/top-ten-lib-dem-breakthrough-moments |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2010-05-09 |work=epolitix.com}}</ref>

There was no need for a coalition, as the 1997 general election ended in a Labour [[landslide victory]]. The election also saw a breakthrough for the Liberal Democrats despite receiving fewer votes than in 1992; they increased their representation from 18 to 46. A "Joint Cabinet Committee" (JCC), including senior Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians, was then created to discuss the implementation of the two parties' shared priorities for constitutional reform; its remit was later expanded to include other issues on which Blair and Ashdown saw scope for cooperation between the two parties. Ashdown's successor as Liberal Democrat leader, [[Charles Kennedy]], deliberately allowed the JCC to slip into abeyance until it effectively stopped meeting.<ref>{{cite news|last=Grice|first=Andrew|title=Charles Kennedy: 'There's a change in the way politics is conducted. Outside Westminster, nobody talks of left and right'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/charles-kennedy-theres-a-change-in-the-way-politics-is-conducted-outside-westminster-nobody-talks-of-left-and-right-580720.html|access-date=24 February 2011|newspaper=The Independent|date=22 September 2003|name-list-style=and |author2=Marie Woolf|location=London}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>