Charles Kennedy Quits as Head of Britain’s Liberal Democrats

Charles Kennedy is member of parliament in the UK, and unlike Tom DeLay, he is liked by most of his colleagues regardless of party affiliation. Last spring, he led the Liberal Democrats to their best general election result since 1923, with 22% of the vote and 62 seats. He resigned over the week-end after confirming that he had a drinking problem and after several members of his own leadership withdrew their support.

Part of Mr. Kennedy’s appeal was his laid-back style of leadership. He was comfortable on TV, earning him the nickname “Chatshow Charlie,” which incidentally, he hates. Six years ago, he succeeded Paddy Ashdown as leader (former member of the Special Boat Services, the UK’s answer to America’s Navy SEALs, and the only party leader trained to kill – although Mrs. Thatcher is said to have learned on the job). Everyone thought that Mr. Kennedy couldn’t improve on the successes of Mr. Ashdown (now Lord Ashdown). They were wrong.

Rather than tighten the relationship between new Labour and the Liberal Democrats as His Lordship had done, Mr. Kennedy decided to move away from Britain’s other conservative party and remain true to the radical roots of Gladstone, MacDonald and David Lord Steel. He made war on the image of Liberals as sandal wearing irrelevances. Among the major parties of the UK, only Mr. Kennedy’s opposed the disastrous war on Iraq from the beginning; most Britons were never convinced that it was a good idea. Still, his plan to decapitate the Tory party by beating its leaders in their home constituencies didn’t take.

The party of Charles Kennedy was a party of high taxation and effective spending – something that is alien to the American body politic, but which has a noble pedigree in Europe. However, many in the party believe that the success in the last election was the peace vote and the unlikable leadership of the Conservatives. Although the war goes on, the Tories now have a kinder and gentler face. Too many Liberal Democrat MPs thought Mr. Kennedy failed to go for the jugular too often. There are worse epitaphs to a political career than “Too nice to be Prime Minister.”

So, the race is on, but it looks like the job will go to a caretaker in the shape of Sir Menzie Campbell, the party’s deputy leader and foreign affairs spokesman who at 64 years of age won’t be around more than one election if that long. In the next couple of years the Liberal Democrats will have to sort out just what they believe; the “Orange Book” group argues for more free-market solutions to problems. This is economically liberal, and it can be socially liberal. Yet, it is hard to see how it distinguishes them from New Labour and the Tories. In the meantime, Mr. Kennedy deserves the thanks of both his party and his nation.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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