For just a year, I had the great honour of knowing Charles Kennedy. Through the most tumultuous times in Scottish politics, it was a pleasure to be by his side and to share in his insight.

In the short time I knew Charles, we only scratched the surface as he toldthe most wonderful anecdotes and yet I know I’ll be retelling a great many of them and talking about the time I spent with him for the rest of my lifetime. CK would always say that we, his team, were far keener than he to point out in literature his 32 years of service yet when travelling around the constituency there was no hiding from that long record of delivery. In every town we visited, there was living proof that in the Highlands, everybody knows somebody Charles helped.

On what Charles dubbed “the night of long sgian dubhs” of 7th/8th May at around 1.30am I made the short journey from the count to Charles’ hotel to confirm what he had already surmised, we had lost. He was more prepared than I, having watched majority after majority washed away by the SNP Tsunami. It was, he said, easier to go on a night in which so many others had fallen. Charles took defeat with all the good grace you would expect from a man of his standing. Before the public declaration, he congratulated his successor and enjoyed some snatched moments of somewhat dark humour with the Highland Lib Dem team.

In the days afterward, Angus Robertson approached him for advice on how to lead the third party in the Commons. Whilst CK had most kindly agreed to Angus’ request, he recalled the exchange by concluding with a characteristic glint in his eye that it wouldn’t be top of his to do list! His to do list over the last month was a long one. Charles was quick to begin necessary arrangements for the winding down of his office and the future of his staff for whom he always had the utmost respect and best wishes. We staff were privileged to be respected and cared for by Charles to the very end.

The local party was due to convene this weekend and discuss future plans for #LibDemFightback (though you wouldn’t find CK using a hashtag!), Charles was as ever a leader in these plans. Charles looked forward to his future role in politics and had no intention of lingering on the side lines but this was to be a new chapter in his life.

Public debate on Europe, Scotland’s future and indeed politics as a whole will be weaker without Charles. It was with genuine delight that he would now be able to spend ‘more time with his family’. Charles’ happiest times when I knew him were when his son, who he loved dearly, came to stay at the croft. One of the regular features of our trips around the constituency would be Charles desperately trying to get a mobile signal to find the latest Liverpool score and offer his punditry to his football mad son.

He was known to say that if he got around to penning his memoirs he might title them ‘The tale of two Bens’. He’d lived his whole life in Lochaber and spent his career in Parliament and never climbed either Ben Nevis or Big Ben.

Charles knew that it was always best to keep yourself grounded and he did, his connection with people at every level of all political hues is what has led to the most wonderful outpouring of tribute from all corners since the devastating announcement of his death.

* Conn O'Neill worked for Charles Kennedy in his constituency until the General Election in 2015