I can’t believe that it is a decade today since we lost Charles Kennedy.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget the moment I first heard the news and how upset I and so many others felt.

His sudden death at the age of 55, from a haemorrhage linked to the effects of alcoholism, came just three weeks after he lost his Ross, Skye and Lochaber seat. He had been in Parliament 32 years, virtually all his adult life.

Ed Davey said today:

Ten years on, we still feel the loss of Charles Kennedy. Charles was principled, kind and possessed an unmatched talent for connecting with people – he was a great friend and an outstanding leader. I know he would have been so proud to see his old seat back in Lib Dem hands.

He was a politician who had the gift of really being able to connect with people and to meet them where they were.  He was one of he few politicians to be praised by both sides during the Independence Referendum in 2014. I’m writing this from my favourite part of his former seat where people remember his compassion and courage.

Just after his defeat, he wrote an article for us, which is reproduced in full below.

I am very fond of political history. If nothing else, we can all reflect on and perhaps tell our grandchildren that we were there on “The night of long sgian dubhs!”

I would very much like to thank my home team. They have been so energetic, dedicated and selfless to the task. Indeed, with them, I would like to thank the very many over the years who have made possible the previous seven successful general election campaigns locally.

I spare a thought for, and this is true of so many constituencies, for members of staff. It is one thing for elected representatives to find themselves at the mercy of the electorate; it is quite something else for the other loyal and skilled people who, sadly, will in due course be searching for employment. I wish them well and stand ready to help. I am sure that their professionalism will stand them in good stead.

It has been the greatest privilege of my adult and public life to have served, for 32 years, as the Member of Parliament for our local Highlands and Islands communities. I would particularly like to thank the generation of voters, and then some, who have put their trust in me to carry out that role and its responsibilities.

Locally, I wish my successor the very best. The next House of Commons will have to finalise the Smith Commission package, giving effect to the referendum “Vow” over further powers. I am saddened not to be involved in that process.

However, from the perspective of the Highlands & Islands, the case for more powers being returned to us which have been lost to the Central Belt over the past five years, has to be heard as well.

On the national picture, I am indeed sorry to learn of Nick’s decision but respect entirely his characteristic sense of personal, political and party principle.

The eligible candidates must reflect with care and collectively before we rush into the best way forward – out of this political debris we must build with thought and care.

Nick, I do hope, will be able to contribute with gusto to the great European debate which is now looming.

It is one, as a Liberal Democrat, in which I wish to be actively engaged myself.

The next few years in politics will come down to a tale of two Unions – the UK and the EU. Despite all the difficult challenges ahead the Liberal Democrat voice must and will be heard.

We did so over Iraq; we can do so again. Let us relish the prospect.

There is so much we can learn from Charles in how we should conduct ourselves. He was willing to take unpopular positions when it was the right and liberal thing to do. As William Hague drove the Conservative Party to the right on immigration, Charles called him out on it.

His biggest moment was opposing the Iraq war. It does take a lot of courage to oppose military action and he didn’t know at that point that events would prove that he was right to do so. Yet despite that, he remained close friends with Alastair Campbell for the rest of his life.

In November 2015, Jim Wallace gave the first Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture in which he said that Charles’ legacy should be to inspire us to refresh our radicalism:

I very much believe that Liberal Democrats must start thinking fresh thoughts about policy to address the real challenges of life in the first quarter of the 21st century – tackling religious fundamentalism; mass migration of peoples whether they be fleeing from war, oppressive regimes, or as a result of displacement due to climate change; the very issue of climate change and environmental justice; harnessing new information technologies for human benefit; education in an era of mass information; civic and community values in a mass media age; the dignity of the individual amidst rampant consumerism, and so on.

In all of these, the legacy of Charles Kennedy should be a call to refresh our radicalism; to be passionate, as he was, in challenging the things Highlanders should not be prepared to put up with – the state of the A82 was an issue he never ceased to campaign on; but above all his legacy should remind us that the underlying objective is to speak to people’s values in their hearts; the values on which he was nurtured in his Highland upbringing and which sustained him during his political lifetime, cut short all too soon – liberty, social justice, rich individuality going hand-in-hand with community co-operation, determination to do the right, diligent stewardship of earth’s resources, a burning internationalism and a celebration of individual and community diversity free from the centralising hand of the State.

But I leave the last word to Charles. In the concluding chapter of The Future of Politics, he sums up his political credo and its origins;

I have tried to show why I believe the things I do. I hope it will now be apparent that my background, growing up on a croft in the Highlands, and my subsequent experiences in Glasgow, America and Westminster have, above all else, committed me to one principle. I want everyone to be free. To experience that, they must have equal opportunities, equal life chances. And that’s why I’m a Liberal Democrat.

Last year, around the time of what would have been his 65th birthday, I discovered this by Highland group Valtos. Liberate features Charles’ voice.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social