Liberal Burblings

Archive for the ‘Sir Menzies Campbell’ Category

Ming Campbell’s Diary gets the Craig Brown treatment in the latest issue of Private Eye. It’s hilarious. You’ll have to get hold of a copy to read it.

Ming Campbell’s Diary gets the Craig Brown treatment in the latest issue of Private Eye. It’s hilarious. You’ll have to get hold of a copy to read it.

I haven’t bought the Mail on Sunday, I feel duty-bound to point out. But I have just read, via the web, the first elements of their serialisation of Ming’s forthcoming auto-biography. You can pre-order it via Liberal Democrat Voice here with some spondoolicks going to the party.

The segment serialised today certainly offers useful perspective on the Charles Kennedy leadership. I say “useful” in the following sense: As Ming says, his father had a drink problem. By writing this article, I think Ming helps to put together another piece of the jigsaw in understanding alcoholism. Several times, his narrative returns to this essential dichotomy: Charles was a superb LibDem leader, but those close around him saw things in a different light.

If Charles had been a rubbish leader, then his passing would not have been too painful. But he was a superb leader. Ming’s rather “so-so” leadership demonstrated that by sharp contrast.

There is also some interesting stuff about Ming and Elspeth.

I still haven’t decided whether to buy the book. Previous experience of politicians’ auto-biographies is that they are interesting up until the point they get into power or leadership. They then tend to become rather sanctimonious exercises in retrospective self-justification. Alan Clark’s Diaries were a shining exception to that general rule.

Rumpole creator John Mortimer says the contrast between the popularity of John McCain in the States and the treatment of Ming Campbell is emblematic of Britain’s old being ‘ignored’:

One of the few figures who acted like a statesman was Sir Ming Campbell. A life at the Scottish Bar had trained him in the art of asking apparently simple questions which could pierce and deflate pomposity.

But Sir Ming had committed a serious crime; nothing to do with alcohol or dangerous drugs or rent boys, he had knowingly achieved the age of 66. Alarmed whispers spread through the Liberal party: ‘Do you know that Ming is 66?’ It was vital to get rid of this embarrassing old-ager and to hustle him off the scene as though he was deaf, dumb and doubly incontinent. It is no use being an accomplished statesman in our world if you cannot at least pretend to be young.

Rumpole creator John Mortimer says the contrast between the popularity of John McCain in the States and the treatment of Ming Campbell is emblematic of Britain’s old being ‘ignored’:

One of the few figures who acted like a statesman was Sir Ming Campbell. A life at the Scottish Bar had trained him in the art of asking apparently simple questions which could pierce and deflate pomposity.

But Sir Ming had committed a serious crime; nothing to do with alcohol or dangerous drugs or rent boys, he had knowingly achieved the age of 66. Alarmed whispers spread through the Liberal party: ‘Do you know that Ming is 66?’ It was vital to get rid of this embarrassing old-ager and to hustle him off the scene as though he was deaf, dumb and doubly incontinent. It is no use being an accomplished statesman in our world if you cannot at least pretend to be young.

It was a delight to see a very fit and relaxed Ming on Sunday AM. He dropped into the conversation that he voted for Nick Clegg in the leadership election, which is interesting. He obviously kept quiet about this during the campaign, as all immediate-past leaders do. But I think he is the first one to say, after the election, who he voted for.