Kennedy allies ‘kept his drinking secret’
Charles Kennedy was ready to make his alcoholism public almost three years before he resigned as Liberal Democrat leader – but backed out at the last minute, a new book claims.
A biography of the disgraced politician today reveals that senior figures in the party – including current leader Menzies Campbell – knew about his problem for several years but agreed to keep it from the electorate so he could seek help in private.
In the book, serialised in The Times, Mr Kennedy’s secretary for more than 20 years also speaks out about his drinking, saying her concerns had begun “well before he became leader”.
“He wasn’t somebody who was drinking all the time in the office. He drank in private, by and large, and drank more than he ought,” Anna Werrin told Greg Hurst, author of Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw.
Today’s excerpts outline how Mr Kennedy struggled with a severe drinking problem throughout his period as leader of the Liberal Democrats, and began receiving professional help in early 2002.
But as rumours around Westminster grew, in July 2003 a group of his closest aides, including Ms Werrin, his press secretary, Jackie Rowley, and principal Lib Dem strategist Tim Razzall, decided that he should go public with his problem.
A press conference was planned in which Mr Kennedy would reveal that he had a drink problem and was seeking to address it. Sir Menzies, then deputy leader, was due to travel down from Edinburgh to stand by his side.
At the last minute, however, Mr Kennedy got cold feet and decided not to go ahead with the planned statement, the book claims.
Ms Werrin called Sir Menzies on the train, saying that “having slept on it, he had decided that he no longer wished to go through with such a public declaration and would deal with the condition in his own way”, it says.
Mr Kennedy continued to hide his drinking problem from all but his closest aides, but in March 2004, he failed to turn up to respond to Gordon Brown’s budget speech in the House of Commons.
Four days later, he was caught on camera clearly sweating profusely and shaking as he delivered his speech to the Lib Dems’ spring conference in Southport. Fourteen months before a general election, many MPs feared he would have to stand down.
The following day, a delegation of senior party officials filed into Mr Kennedy’s office to confront him about his drinking. At this meeting, Lib Dem executive Chris Rennard asked bluntly: “You are an alcoholic, aren’t you?” To which, he replied: “Yes.”
He was told that the party still wanted him as leader but not while he was drinking, and the chairman of the Lib Dem parliamentary party, Matthew Taylor, made clear: “You must never drink again. The next time you pick up a drink, you give up being leader.”
Last night Lib Dem officials rejected claims that there was a cover-up about Mr Kennedy’s drinking, saying that senior party members “quite properly and loyally sought to maintain Charles Kennedy’s right to privacy and confidentiality while he was seeking to cope with his problem, for which he was receiving treatment”.
“A point came early this year when a large number of Liberal Democrat MPs concluded that it was neither in Charles’s nor the party’s interest for him to continue as leader,” a spokesman added.
“The party is now united under Ming Campbell’s leadership and is looking forward to building on its recent electoral successes.”
