LONDON: Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy admitted he had an alcohol problem he had been fighting for nearly 18 months and announced an election for the leadership of the party Thursday.
The announcements come in the wake of charges against his drinking habits and the criticism from party colleagues that the habit is hampering his functioning as the party leader.
Kennedy told a news conference that he has been trying to cope with the problem and in the process learnt that it is a serious issue. He had sought professional help and he had rather successfully tackled it. The 46-year-old leader said he had not had a drink in the last two months and he does not intend to have another.
He said justifying his decision to call an election for a new leaders saying, "I believe it is only fair now to give our party members their say over my continuing leadership." He added in the same breath that he will want to get re-elected.
Party circles are not clear whether there would be any serious candidate to challenge him, though at least two senior leaders -- Sir Menzies Campbell, deputy leader, and Simon Hughes, the left-leaning party president, had been his critics. Sir Menzies said in a statement that he would not stand directly against Kennedy and paid tribute to his leader's "personal courage". Hughes said he hoped all party members will speak and act in order to ensure the continuing electoral success of the Liberal Democrats.
It is learnt that 11 members of his front-bench team had signed a petition in December expressing no confidence in Kennedy's leadership.
Scottish-born Kennedy has led the party since 1999, and in the May parliamentary election, the party won its largest-ever number of seats. He has been an avid critic of Tony Blair's policy on Iraq and had openly criticised his action in participating in the U.S.-led invasion.
In spite of there being no frontrunner for the position, there are MPs from the party, who feel he will be forced to stand aside after being declared not capable of leading the party. One contender for the position is Mark Oaten, the home affairs spokesman, but publicly he has ruled himself out of the race and had praised Kennedy.
All the 73,000 members of the party will have a vote in the election. Party sources said that no timetable had been fixed for the election but the federal executive is likely to meet soon and set a date.
Posted
on : Fri, 06 Jan 2006 08:40 GMT | Politics News
By : Chris Rowe
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