Charles Kennedy: The Downfall!! !

Post Reply New Topic

What do you all think of the resignation under pressure of Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats UK?

As a member of the Liberal Democrats, I do not think he was the right man to be leader, but he was a genuine politician and I will be sad to see him step down. I am rather disappointed that LibDem MP's used his drink problem as an convenient excuse to remove him from power. There were issues about his leadership, but they should have been brought up professionally.

Odds are that either Simon Hughs, Menzies Campbell or Mark Oaten will be the next leader.

Hi there

I don't think it's fair that he's been pestered from his post, though I feel it is more likely that his alcoholism was a useful excuse to remove him from leadership.

It annoys me because there are no doubt many politicians that are alcoholic, the difference being they don't get found out. Maybe that is the issue though - he was unfortunate (or lucky, if it helps him deal with the problem) enough to get found out.

Anne Robinson said something very interesting on Sunday AM yesterday, about when she was a journalist and got harassed in a lift by lobby men, threatening her not to report a particular story. I wonder how long people close to Kennedy have known he is alcoholic, and who decided to let the papers report it.

Maybe Kennedy will deal with his alcoholism and beomce a better politicion because of it. This might be a good thing.

I think Menzies Campbell will be good.

I quite like Menzies Campbell, but perhaps he is a bit too old. I will be voting for Simon Hughs.

I've read from numerous sources that he was blackmailed into his terrible admission, by an individual who wasn't connected with the lib dem party.

Eitherway, I think the lib dems need someone very charismatic and radical. Kennedy spent too much time saying what the public wanted to hear, but also what they knew they couldn't get. For instance, it was pointless to promise to scrap tuition fees, and I don't see how it would have increased their turnover in the election last year.

That's all very true, though in the particular case of the lib dems and the UK public, theres a lot of wishful thinking going on among the public as to what the political ideals should be. The difference between the uk and USA public, I might surmise, is that those in the US are more inclined to act when they want something to change. In the UK we moan at the state of public services and then moan when they announce tax increases in order to fund better ones. Therefore the lib dems subsist in voicing people's wishful thinking. When they stop being able to do that, then they will be in trouble.