Sunday, January 08, 2006
Charles Kennedy
And so it is….the inevitable.. Yesterday marked the death of the Liberal Democrats as ever loveable Charles Kennedy crashed from power
I will admit that I do find lots of sympathy for Charles inside of me. It is undeniable that he has been a very effective leader of the Lib Dems and was a very respected and dignified politician. It is a very sad event when any person is torn apart by the horrors of alcoholism.
However whilst the focus and discussions have been upon Charles in recent days, attention should spread elsewhere. The way that senior Liberal Democrat MP’s have behaved is nothing short of disgraceful. In 2004 they knew that Charles had a drink problem so big were there concerns that they issued him with an ultimatum. They watched him miss the 2004 budget speech, have an uncomfortable Party conference speech, forget figures at a key policy launch and pull out of a speech in Newcastle. These are just the public examples, numerous other private mishaps seem to have been recorded in Party activists memories. Yet through all of this Lib Dem MP’s went to Parliament, went to their constituencies, fought a General Election, knowing that their leader was in no fit state to be heading the Party. For the good of Charles’s health, he should never have been allowed to continue as leader as long as he has. It shows the total inadequacies, indecisiveness, cowardliness and incompetence of the senior Liberal Democrats in not one of them being able to act decisively on this issue.
The future of the Lib Dems is in jeopardy. The choice seems to be between Sir Menzies Campbell, who will not be able to appeal to the masses, particularly when facing our dearest Cameron. On the other hand you have the ever charming Simon Hughes, who will take the Party further to the left and make them even more unelectable.
Maybe now, the true face of the Lib Dems will be revealed. Only then will people understand how well Charles Kennedy did and how essential he was to their recovery.
# posted by Rob @ 10:32 am 
