Mr Ashdown will step down as party leader
after the June European
elections, and
retire as MP for Yeovil at the
next general
election, but his restless energy is unlikely to be satisfied solely by more time spent at his house in France and with his baby grandson.
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, announced he will
retire after two terms, shocking colleagues, scrambling
next year's
election map, and causing a seismic change in the chamber's entrenched committee structure.