Charles Kennedy (1959- 2015)

DURING my 28 years in journalism I lost count of the number of MPs and other political animals that I interviewed or met.

As a breed, politicians are a disparate and often unsavoury lot of people. While some are true ‘public servants’, many more are egocentric single-minded careerists lining their own pockets and those of their politically like-minded friends.

There have been a few I have admired for their honesty and political integrity… Tony Benn, Alan Simpson, Dennis Skinner, Caroline Lucas, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon all spring to mind.

But there are even fewer that I have warmed to as human beings – the sort that in another lifetime you might regard as close friends. One was the late and lovely SNP MP Margaret Ewing, another her husband and MSP Fergus, and the third the wholly wonderful Charles Kennedy MP.

This morning I woke at 7am to read the news of Charles’s sudden death, less than four weeks after he lost his parliamentary seat in Ross, Skye and Lochaber – a seat he had held since 1983 – during Scotland’s SNP landslide, or the ‘Night of the Long Sgian Duhbs’ as he called it.

His political legacy is immense.

Mr Kennedy led his party the Liberal Democrats to its best-ever election result in 2005, on the back of his opposition to the Iraq War two years earlier, but he resigned early in 2006 after revealing he had been receiving treatment for a long-standing alcohol problem.

In 2010 he was the only leading Lib Dem MP to openly oppose his party’s coalition with David Cameron’s right wing Tories.

Yet he was admired right across the political spectrum for his honesty, friendliness and integrity.

So this morning I was left numb and cast about on the internet for news of his death.

Among many tributes I found one which touched me immediately. It was written by Charles’ long-time friend and soul mate, Tony Blair’s former strategist Alastair Campbell.

I am no fan of Mr Campbell or his New Labour politics, but his words have a resonance at this time: “Charles Kennedy was a lovely man, and a highly talented politician. These are the kind of words that always flow when public figures die, often because people feel they have to say those things, and rightly they are flowing thick and fast today as we mourn an important public figure, and a little bit of hypocrisy from political foes is allowed. But when I say that Charles was a lovely man and a talented politician, I mean it with all my heart.”

Mr Campbell goes on to outline his close and enduring friendship with Charles Kennedy.

He finishes by saying: “He was great company, sober or drinking. He had a fine political mind and a real commitment to public service. He was not bitter about his ousting as leader and nor, though he disagreed often with what his Party did in coalition with the Tories, did he ever wander down the rentaquote oppositionitis route. He was a man of real talent and real principle.

“Despite the occasional blip when the drink interfered, he was a terrific communicator and a fine orator. He spoke fluent human, because he had humanity in every vein and every cell.”

Read more at: http://www.alastaircampbell.org

I had no such close friendship, but like most Scottish journalists always regarded Charles – or Charlie as we called him – as a ‘good chum’ and someone you could trust.

I first met Charles at a Highland Press ball in Inverness in January 1992. He was a young and dynamic MP who was steeped in Scottish journalism. With a glass of whisky in one hand and obligatory cigarette in the other, he exuded warmth, humour and conviviality – first impressions, and I warmed to him.

There followed a two year hiatus before our paths crossed again.

Then over a period of about six years he was a first port of call whenever I needed a chat or quote on any Scottish political issue. He always obliged, often returning my call late at night, with a chuckle, a whisky soaked slur and a “How are things, Nic?”

Charles was always warm, took time to listen and gave compassion, insight and humour at almost every turn.

I recall bumping into him almost daily during the campaign for the first Scottish parliament in 1999. On one occasion we literally did collide outside a hotel toilet in Edinburgh… he was exiting with lit cigarette in hand, puffing smoke and chortled: “Hello Nic, where are the other guys?”

He gave a cheeky wink, patted me on the back and hurried up to the waiting news conference.

Our final conversation was via telephone in 1999. I was working for the Press and Journal in Aberdeen, had called his London flat for a comment on a story I was writing and left a message on his answerphone. Sometime around 10pm he returned my call and finished with: “Get down to London Nic and we can share a few beers and chat over what’s happening up there.”

Sadly we never did.

Others knew him much better.

His predecessor as Lib Dem Leader Paddy Ashdown said: “In a political age not overburdened with gaiety and good sense, he brought us wit, charm, judgement, principle and decency.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “It’s a dreadfully sad day for Scottish and UK politics. The news about Charles Kennedy is stunning and absolutely tragic. Charles was one of these rare things in British politics, he was a brilliant and effective politician, perhaps one of the most talented politicians of his generation. And yet somehow he managed to be universally liked.”

Former First Minister Alex Salmond added: “Charles Kennedy was by far the most generous person I have ever met in politics. Sad loss of a great politician and, above all, a great man.”

David Mundell, the new Secretary of State for Scotland, said: “I have known Charles for over 30 years. He was an outstanding Scottish and British politician who was deeply committed to the Highlands and held in high esteem across the political spectrum for his judgement and principles. He was a genuinely nice man and his sense of humour and fun will be hugely missed.”

Former Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik says he was “not surprised” by Mr Kennedy’s death, saying politics was “his life” and losing his seat last month would have been a major blow.

“He had a hunger to serve people – 32 years of it,” he says. “I thought that he needed to get into the House of Lords quickly because that institution was enormously supportive.”

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said the UK has lost a “political giant”, adding: “Although we came from different political traditions, Charles was a man I was proud to call a friend.

“When I was first elected to the House of Commons back in 1997 as a young 29-year old, Charles was one of the first people to offer me support and guidance. He didn’t have to, but he did. That’s just the kind of man he was. Despite the sadness, those of us who knew him will remember the good times. We will look back at Charles’ wit and good humour. In years to come we will remember with a smile the delight in knowing him, his huge contribution to politics and a life lost too soon.”

And former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg summed him up: “Charles Kennedy on form, on a good day when he was feeling strong and happy, had more political talent in his little finger than the rest of us put together and that’s why everyone just felt, and still of course feels today, that it was just so tragic to see someone with such huge gifts also struggle as many people do with the demons that clearly beset him and the problems that he acknowledged he had with alcohol.”

I will close this piece with timeless comments from Professor James Raven from Cambridge who says he was honoured to call Charles Kennedy a friend: “The death of Charles Kennedy is a devastating loss for British politics. It’s a tremendous shock. A man of the greatest integrity, he advanced the cause of social justice and liberalism with immense thoughtfulness and determination.

“He combined enormous personal charm with huge and self-deprecating abilities. He was so effective because he was so passionate and warm. I first knew him as a very young MP in 1983 and we campaigned together through the 90s and three general elections.

“I was honoured to call him my friend and have treasured memories of his personal and generous support. He was an immensely gifted leader. I suggested he took a sabbatical to overcome his problems. I think the party would have accepted that. I regret he stood down.

“In private he was quite a shy man. He was a good friend to people. He was a very proud highlander. He will be missed by everyone who cared for the future of this country.”

Rest in Peace Charlie.

The Shadowy One Who Fires the Gun

THERE are only a few things in life I really hate, and one of them is the Daily Mail.

It is a poisonous rag which cloaks itself in the clothes of middle class decency while demeaning everything which is good.

And, as a journalist, I find its pretense at factual reporting frightening. Its so-called news reeks of innuendo and loaded propaganda.

And its agenda is unwavering: preserve Conservative Britain from the rabid threat of Marxism, the Labour Party, trade unions and working people.

So the savaging of Daily Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel by Alistair Campbell on BBC 2’s Newsnight over the paper’s scurrilous article about Ed Miliband’s late father Ralph, was an unexpected delight.

Particularly pleasing was the bright light Mr Campbell shone on the paper’s shadowy editor Paul Dacre.

My own dealings with the Mail as a journalist were rather more obscure.

I would like to take you back to 1997.

I was at the pinnacle of my career working as the Chief Investigative Reporter for the Scotsman.

A whole world away from the Daily Mail.

In three years, I had broken a series of major exclusive investigations. Among the highlights were the dumping of millions of tons of munitions in the Irish Sea, the deadly legacy of the Dounreay experimental nuclear plant in Northern Scotland and a probable link between pesticides and BSE.

I had also been honoured with two back-to-back awards as Scottish Journalist of the Year and was in line for a third.

I loved my job and the collegiate atmosphere I worked in. I honestly believed I would spend the rest of my working life at North Bridge, with no aspirations other than to continue in my role.

But all that changed when in December 1996, our newspaper was surprisingly bought out by property billionaires, the Barclay Brothers.

With the new owners came a new Editor in Chief, the infamous Andrew Neil.

There was a corporate intake of breath as we all wondered for the future.

That intake turned into something approaching choking when our much loved editor, Jim Seaton, was placed on ‘gardening leave’ awaiting early retirement and a new editor Martin Clarke was announced.

We all winced… Clarke had trained under Paul Dacre and he was well known as a Rottweiler in the newsroom.

Clarke’s editorial demeanour attracted a range of tributes from former colleagues: “vile”, “offensive”, “appalling”, “obsessive”, “childlike” and “foul-mouthed” being among the less flattering.

Like Dacre, whose briefings were called “the vagina monologues” for their reliance on one particular expletive, Clarke went one better.

“He would start by saying, ‘You’re all a fucking disgrace and one of you is going to be fucking sacked this week,” and the terrible thing was, one of us usually was,” said Alexandra Blair, The Times educational correspondent, who worked for him for a year and a half at The Scotsman.

Another reporter who worked under Clarke said: “He once said to me: ‘You’ve got to go and shout at the bastards or they won’t respect you.'”

My stay under Clarke’s editorship was brief… just six months.

I moved on after being told to follow his own loaded agenda, which included one weird instruction to prove that wild deer being pursued by hounds are “no more stressed than a cow in a slaughterhouse”!

The final straw came in a bleak week, which began by Clarke blanking me at a press awards lunch after I had been highly commended as reporter of the year and finished by him standing over me at 10pm on a fourth rewrite of a story, berating my journalism as “fucking bollocks”.

I introduce a clipping of a piece written by Rob Brown in June 1997.

“Senior writers and sub-editors now find themselves being showered with expletives by their new editor Martin Clarke, whose lexicon of abuse is fairly extensive.

“Several executives have resigned in disgust. They included the picture editor Paul Dodds, who quit after being ordered to get better pictures from his “f***in’ monkeys”.

“Also out is associate editor Lesley Riddoch, who suddenly found her articles being repeatedly spiked.

“One of the journalists who has quit in disgust said: “I have worked for some brutal editors in my time, but Martin Clarke behaves like a feudal squire and treats his staff like serfs. Change was certainly needed at The Scotsman, but not this. He is running amok, creating a totally demoralised and demotivated staff.”

“But, put it to Clarke that he is pursuing a monstrous form of macho management and he professes his innocence with almost schoolboyish sense of hurt.

“Clarke, 32, says the complaints are emanating from only a couple of “malcontents”. Some people, he says, are driven by “personal pique because they never got a job they wanted”. Nic Outterside, head of the paper’s investigative unit, left last week. Clarke says the unit was disbanded because it was “a crock of shit”.

“Others, according to Clarke, have become “malcontents” simply because they cannot stand the new pace in the newsroom.

“I demand a greater level of working than perhaps some people are used to here and I can be robust at times, like all editors,” he says.

“Clarke confirms that he drew up a five-and-a-half page document a few weeks after he took charge recommending that a number of senior Scotsman staffers should be removed from their posts. This “operation review” leaked from the editor’s office into the newsroom, where it was seen as a sinister hit list. Clarke admits to some regrets about that.

“Of course it was bloody unfortunate, but you don’t expect to work in a place where such illegal activities take place. It was stolen from my computer. I’ve worked in some pretty rough newspapers, but nowhere where people are that underhand.”

At the time of writing this blog, Clarke and Steafel are both tipped to succeed Paul Dacre as the next editor of the Daily Mail.

The art of being underhand is surely what the Mail is all about.