 Later commentary suggests that during this period Ashdown lost touch with his party and that his pursuit of this common agenda ultimately led to his resignation.Blair and Ashdown also agreed to create the Jenkins Commission to conduct a public inquiry into the case for electoral reform.Chaired by the Liberal Democrat peer Roy Jenkins, the commission recommended replacing the first-past-the-post electoral system with a system of proportional representation for use in general elections, in line with a key demand of Ashdown and his party.