Menzies Campbell

The Right Honourable  Sir Menzies Campbell  CBE QC MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 2 March 2006 – 15 October 2007
Deputy	Vince Cable
Preceded by	Charles Kennedy
Succeeded by	Nick Clegg
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 12 February 2003 – 7 January 2006
Leader	Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	Alan Beith
Succeeded by	Vince Cable
Lib Dem Foreign Affairs Spokesman
In office 7 May 1997 – 7 January 2006
Preceded by	David Heath
Succeeded by	Michael Moore
Member of Parliament for North East Fife
Incumbent
Assumed office  11 June 1987
Preceded by	Barry Henderson
Majority	9,048(22.6)
Chancellor of the University of St Andrews
Incumbent
Assumed office  9 January 2006
Preceded by	Sir Kenneth Dover
Born	22 May 1941 (1941-05-22) (age 69) Glasgow, Scotland
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Spouse(s)	Elspeth, Lady Campbell
Alma mater	University of Glasgow, Stanford University
Profession	Politician, advocate, sprinter
Religion	Presbyterian
Website	www.mingcampbell.org.uk

Sir Walter Menzies Campbell CBE QC (born 22 May 1941) is a British politician, advocate and retired sprinter. He is Member of Parliament for North East Fife and was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.^[1]

He held the British 100 metres record from 1967 to 1974, having run the distance in 10.2 seconds, and captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965 and 1966.

"Menzies" is a Scottish name, pronounced /ˈmɪŋɨs/ ("Mingis"), and originally written Minȝies, the "z" being a graphic approximation of the (Middle English) yogh (ȝ) originally found in the name.

Life outside politics

Born in Glasgow, Campbell was educated at Hillhead High School, Glasgow, and the University of Glasgow, graduating with an MA and an LLB. He was elected President of the Glasgow University Liberal Club in 1962, and of the Glasgow University Union 1964–65. He was involved in debating at the Union and with the Dialectic Society, where his contemporaries included former Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, Donald Dewar and John Smith, who attempted to recruit him for the Labour Party. He later received a scholarship to Stanford University, California.

A successful sprinter at University (he broke Olympic gold medalist Wyndham Halswelle's 53-year old Scottish 300 yards record in 1961^[2]), he competed for the Great Britain team in the 200 metres and 4x100 metres relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo^[3] and captained the Scotland team at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. He also captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965 and 1966, and held the British 100 metres record from 1967 to 1974. At one time he was known as "the fastest white man on the planet",^[4] running the 100m in 10.2 seconds twice during 1967.^[5]

He qualified as an advocate before he became a politician. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1968 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1982. He specialised in planning and licensing law. He ceased to practise as an advocate in 2003, but returned to practice in January 2008 as a member of a chambers made up (uniquely in Scotland, where about 30% of advocates are women) exclusively of men.^[6]

Campbell married Elspeth, Lady Grant-Suttie, daughter of Major General Roy Urquhart, in June 1970. They have no children, though she has a child from her previous marriage.^[7]

Member of Parliament

Campbell became chairman of the Scottish Liberals in 1975, and was a candidate at various general elections between 1974 and 1983. After three failed attempts, he was finally elected as Member of Parliament, for North East Fife, at the 1987 general election. He was made the Liberal Democrat chief spokesman on foreign affairs and defence in 1992. He considered standing as a candidate to replace Paddy Ashdown as party leader in the 1999 leadership election but ultimately decided against it. He later said that he regretted that decision "for about 10 minutes a day". He was also one of twelve candidates for the position of Speaker when Betty Boothroyd stood down in 2000, but he lost out to Michael Martin.

Campbell was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, in 2002; he underwent a course of intensive chemotherapy before going on to make a full recovery.

Campbell replaced Alan Beith as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in February 2003 and on occasion acted as stand-in Leader of the party. He took over in the general election campaign for three days from 12 April 2005 when Charles Kennedy took paternity leave.

Liberal Democrats Frontbenches

In his role as foreign affairs spokesperson, Campbell was prominent in the Liberal Democrat opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, repeatedly arguing that the British government should publish the Attorney General's secret advice on the war's legality and criticising Tony Blair's support for President Bush. Unsympathetic towards what he terms the "visceral anti-Americanism" of some in the anti-war movement, Campbell has noted that: "For more than 60 years we have been engaged in an intimate and rewarding relationship with the United States ... Our two countries are bound together historically by common values and experience. But our relationship should be one of mature partnership, not one of undue deference."^[8]

Leader of the Liberal Democrats

On 7 January 2006, Campbell became interim Leader following Kennedy's resignation, before winning the subsequent leadership contest. Despite his relatively advanced age compared to the leaders of the other two main parties, Tony Blair and David Cameron, he started as the front-runner in the 2006 leadership election, backed by more than a third of Lib Dem MPs as well as party notables such as David Steel, Shirley Williams and Paddy Ashdown. As the race drew on it appeared that Chris Huhne, initially the outsider, was rapidly gaining support, and Huhne became the favourite with the bookmakers,^[9] but Campbell regained ground.

On 2 March 2006 Campbell was declared leader of the Liberal Democrats after winning the leadership election under the Single Transferable Vote method. The first-round votes placed him well in the lead, at 23,264 to Chris Huhne's 16,691 and Simon Hughes' 12,081. A tearful Simon Hughes was accordingly eliminated and his second-preference votes were split between the two remaining candidates. The final result was Sir Menzies Campbell at 29,697 and Chris Huhne at 21,628 on a 72% membership turnout.^[10]

Campbell promoted many younger MPs to his Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team including former MEP Nick Clegg as Home Affairs spokesperson and 26 year old Jo Swinson as Scotland spokesperson.

A few weeks prior to Campbell's election to the party leadership, the Liberal Democrats won the Dunfermline and West Fife seat from Labour in a by-election. This was viewed as a major victory for Campbell and as a particular blow to then Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown, who lives in the constituency, represents the adjacent seat, and featured prominently in Labour's by-election campaign.

Questions over leadership

However, questions were raised over Campbell's early performances at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions,^[11] leading him to declare himself "perfectly confident" that he could fulfil the role of party leader.^[12] Campbell regained some ground with the controversy over the US practice of "extraordinary rendition",^[13] the case of the NatWest Three,^[14] and the conflict in Lebanon.^[15]

According to polls published in July 2006, twice as many voters preferred Charles Kennedy as Leader over Campbell, and this led to further criticism of Campbell's leadership.^[16] Kennedy however called rumours that he considered challenging for the leadership as "fanciful".^[17]

The University of St Andrews' decision to award an honorary doctorate of law to former President Khatami of Iran sparked some criticism, although as Chancellor he is only titular head and not involved in such decisions.^[18][19][20] Khatami was elected as President of Iran in 1997 and 2001, both occasions on platforms of social and political reform and a "Dialogue Among Civilizations" that put Khatami significantly at odds with his conservative successor, President Ahmadinejad.

Shortly before Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister in June 2007, Campbell was invited to a meeting with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer. Brown surprised Campbell by requesting that two Liberal Democrats (Lord Ashdown and Lady Neuberger) join his cabinet. After taking 24 hours to consult and consider, Campbell rejected the offer as unworkable, given the gulf between the parties on issues of foreign policy and civil liberties. Labour leaked news of the meeting to the media and went behind Campbell to offer the job of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to Ashdown anyway; he turned it down.^[21] Critics note that, since devolution, the role of Northern Ireland Secretary is essentially defunct, lending weight to claims that the job offer was merely a media-relations exercise.

After intense speculation in the autumn of 2007, Gordon Brown announced there would be no General Election in 2007. Following this announcement, Campbell's leadership again came under question, with some in the party feeling that now the heat was off the time was ripe to get a younger leader potentially more capable of connecting with voters. On 15 October, Campbell's deputy Vince Cable conceded on BBC TV's World at One programme that Campbell's position was "certainly under discussion", adding "I don't think it's under threat", but on the same programme party stalwart Sir Chris Clarke advised Campbell to "go with dignity and go back to being foreign affairs spokesman, where the world listens to you."^[22] Later the same day came an announcement by the party that Campbell would step down as leader.^[23][24]

At the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2007

Resignation of leadership

Campbell resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats on 15 October 2007. The announcement was made from the steps of Cowley Street by Party President Simon Hughes. Alongside him was deputy Leader Vince Cable, and they praised Campbell's leadership and said the party owed him a debt of gratitude. In his letter of resignation, addressed to Hughes, Campbell stated: "It has become clear that following the Prime Minister’s decision not to hold an election, questions about leadership are getting in the way of further progress by the party".^[25] Cable became acting leader of the Liberal Democrats until a leadership election could be held.^[26]

Following the resignation then leadership contender Nick Clegg alleged that Campbell had been a victim of ageism throughout his term as party leader saying he had been treated "appallingly" and subject to "barely disguised ageism".^[27] Concerns about ageism directed at Campbell from the media had also been raised by the charity Age Concern in September 2006. Gordon Lishman the director of the charity said "the recent media coverage poking fun at Sir Menzies has brought to light the age discrimination that is epidemic in the media and society". Attacking media coverage which seemed to focus on his age Lishman added "clearly the media needs to update its attitudes and get with the times; people are living and working longer and age discrimination is out dated".^[28]

Expenses claims

Sir Menzies Campbell reportedly claimed in the region of £10,000 over two years to redesign his flat in London, which included the purchasing of a king-sized bed, scatter cushions and a small flat screen television. Campbell said he believed that the claims were "within the spirit and letter of the rules" as the flat had not been renovated for 20 years.^[29]

Beliefs

Campbell's political beliefs can be summarised as those of a moderate social liberal. Unlike Simon Hughes, his erstwhile leadership rival, Campbell's view is that the appropriate role of the state in the economy is limited to correcting market failures and funding essential public services: influenced by Treasury spokesperson Vince Cable and Environment spokesperson Chris Huhne, Campbell has promoted radical policies to shift taxation away from ‘goods’ such as employment and towards ‘bads’ such as pollution, through a revenue-neutral restructuring of the tax system that maintains the current tax burden whilst lifting two-million low-paid individuals out of income tax altogether.^[30]

Campbell's primary area of interest is acknowledged to be foreign policy: he strongly supports multilateral institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations, though argues that the former must reform to become more democratic and the latter must develop new mechanisms for dealing with humanitarian crises.^[31] He has also been critical of the what he claims is “disproportionate military action” employed by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza and in Lebanon, contending that Israel’s tactics exacerbate existing tensions and lead to human rights abuses.^[15] Though a supporter of US-UK cooperation, Campbell has argued that the Bush-Blair relationship was one-sided and that the Labour government pursued it at the expense of Britain's standing in other international institutions, particularly the EU and UN.

Although never going so far as to advocate direct affirmative action policies (such as Labour’s all-woman shortlists), Campbell has stressed the need for the Liberal Democrats to provide extra support for female, disabled and ethnic minority candidates seeking to contest winnable seats.^[32]

In July 2007, Campbell unveiled his radical new tax proposals. These amount to a large shift in the tax burden (certified as revenue-neutral by the non-partisan Institute for Fiscal Studies) away from low- and middle-income earners and onto higher-earners and pollution. This is to be implemented by cutting the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 16%, closing £13.5bn of tax loopholes for high-earners and imposing larger green taxes on polluters. Campbell said of the proposals, "the unacceptable reality is that in Britain today the poorest pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the super-rich" and that his aim was for "the rich and people with environmentally damaging lifestyles pay a fairer share".

Honours

Campbell was appointed CBE in the 1987 New Years Honours List;^[33] he became a Privy Counsellor in the 1999 New Year Honours;^[34] and he was honoured with a knighthood in the 2004 New Year Honours for "services to Parliament".^[35]

Campbell has honorary degrees from Glasgow and Strathclyde universities. He was the only person nominated to succeed Sir Kenneth Dover after he retired as Chancellor of the University of St Andrews on 1 January 2006, so took office immediately after nominations closed on 9 January 2006. He was installed as Chancellor on 22 April 2006, at which time he also received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

References

External links

• Ming Campbell MP official website
• The Campbell Campaign campaign website for the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership
• Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell CBE QC MP Liberal Democrats profile
• Sir Menzies Campbell CBE QC MP Scottish Liberal Democrats profile
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted

News articles

• 1999 New Year Honours (BBC News, 31 December 1998)
• Campbell abandons Lib Dem race (BBC News, 27 May 1999)
• Review of 1999: Menzies Campbell (BBC News, 30 December 1999)
• Who will replace the Speaker? (BBC News, 17 July 2000)
• Cancer treatment for Lib Dem Campbell (BBC News, 22 November 2002)
• Lib Dems elect deputy leader (BBC News, 12 February 2003)
• Campbell heads political honours (BBC News, 31 December 2003)
• Cartoon by Steve Bell dubs him "Ming the Merciless" (The Guardian, 16 December 2005
• Steve Bell's cartoon expressing concern for Campbell's leaning to the right. 03/03/2006.
• Ashdown gives Sir Menzies backing (BBC News, 9 January 2006)
• What to call Ming's backers? (BBC News, 9 January 2006)
• Why is Menzies pronounced Mingis? (BBC News, 10 January 2006)
• Sir Menzies Campbell MP elected new Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. (University of St Andrews Press Office, 11 January 2006)
• Menzies Campbell profile (BBC News, 15 October 2007)