Richard Ashcroft a limited number of appearances in 2003, Ashcroft was absent from the music business for about two years. He later explained this in 2006, stating that "[e]veryone got it into their heads over the last few years that I was in my ivory tower like Lennon, baking bread all day. The fact of the matter was that I was bringing up kids". Ashcroft began playing gigs again in mid-2005, and, on 2 July at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, Coldplay invited him to perform with them during their set. They performed The Verve's hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony", after
Michael Ashcroft Me Dave: The unauthorised biography of David Cameron", published on 5 October 2015, has been criticised for containing content which lacks evidence. In addition to this, some commentators believe Ashcroft published the book to tarnish David Cameron's reputation. The book triggered the "Piggate" scandal with an allegation that a photograph exists which shows Cameron putting "a private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig's severed head, which was positioned in the lap of another man. On 31 March 2000, Ashcroft was appointed as a life peer, and the title Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County