Tag Archives: Ming Campbell

The serialisation of Ming Campbell’s memoirs is continuing in the Mail. The latest instalment considers his own 18-month tenure as Lib Dem leader – not, perhaps, the happiest time of his life.

Ming’s prose is as starched as his collars and cuffs. Pre-publication rumours suggested he had been instructed to ‘sex up’ his autobiography – and I do wonder if this nugget made it into the first draft, or was inserted later:

Charles had come under fire soon after his election because of a lack of clear leadership. Indeed, at a clear-the-air meeting in 1999, I had told him that his office was a “f****** shambles” – I remember it because it was most uncharacteristic of me to swear at such a gathering.

The rest of the account is more concerned with the background noise to his own resignation; in particular, Simon Hughes’ frequently off-piste commentary on Ming’s leadership is the subject of some scarcely-veiled criticism. But Simon is the only MP named (at least in this extract) – the ‘grey suits’ who appear to have made the greatest impact on Ming’s decision to stand down are Lib Dem peers, specifically Bob Maclennan, Shirley Williams and Navnit Dholakia.

Ming Campbell’s autobiography is due out shortly – you can pre-order it from Amazon here, and earn the Lib Dems some commission – and is currently being serialised by the Daily Mail. No surprise that the first instalment should focus on Charles Kennedy’s battle with alcoholism and his forced resignation as leader in January 2006.

Much of the account is familiar – the growing awareness of Charles’s problems within the Westminster village, and the protectiveness of Charles’s inner team. But Ming also describes his first realisation of how Charles’s drinking was beginning to impede his ability to do …