Kennedy: Taylor removal not a challenge to my authority
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy today denied claims that the removal of Matthew Taylor as the party’s parliamentary chairman was a challenge to his authority.
Liberal Democrat MPs last night voted to remove Mr Taylor, the long-standing chairman, and replace him with Chesterfield MP Paul Holmes.
But Mr Kennedy told reporters in Londoner that he himself had instituted the changes that meant the chairperson was elected rather than appointed by the leader, and so could have no complaints about the result.
“The parliamentary party have elected their chair and that’s fine. I will work well with Paul just as I have worked with Matthew,” he said.
The result has been interpreted as an attempt by MPs to curb the reformist trend in the party, but Mr Kennedy again denied that suggestion.
“I honestly don’t think it’s got anything whatsoever to do with perceived ideological differences within the parliamentary party,” he added.
Asked if he had wanted Mr Taylor to stay on, he said he had felt that some stability was needed because one-third of the party’s MPs had been elected for the first time in May.
“So my suggestion was that perhaps as everybody got sorted out a period of continuity might be sensible,” he said. However, he would “go with the flow”.
Of the outgoing chairman, he said: “Matthew Taylor will continue to be a senior, prominent and valued member of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary cause.
“He has my great support and personal friendship and nothing has changed.”
Mr Kennedy added that Phil Willis, the former education spokesman, would undertake a review of the chairperson’s role in the light of the enlarged parliamentary party.
