A veteran Liberal Democrat activist who helped select Charles Kennedy on the first occasion he stood for parliament has revealed that she had a series of painful conversations with the late MP about the consequences of his drinking.
Kennedy’s family announced on Tuesday that he had died at home on Monday, aged 55.
Celia Munro, who became a close confidante of Kennedy after he was first elected to parliament, told the Guardian she had tried to assist the former Lib Dem leader with the help of her late husband, John Farquhar Munro, a former Lib Dem MSP.
In an interview, Munro said her husband was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous “and he was always there to talk to him. They understood each other because of this, but it’s a hard one.
“[Alcoholism] is a fearful, fearful thing. I’ve seen it in other people that my husband tried to help over the years. One can only assume that in the end he still couldn’t reach the help he needed.”
Munro said she had many painful conversations with Kennedy over the years about his drinking: “I spoke to him very explicitly about it on many occasions. It was hard, like having your own child in front of you, and trying to reason with them. We sat many times with him.”
Another close friend of Kennedy, the former leader of the Scottish Lib Dems Tavish Scott, said he did not accept claims that the late MP had been brought low by his defeat in the general election.
“He was in fantastic form, even after the general election, and talking about taking a leading role – if asked – in the EU referendum campaign, as well as thinking about standing for Holyrood next year. He was very thoughtful about how to maintain and resurrect his political career,” Scott said.
Jamie Stone, another close friend and former Lib Dem MSP for the Highlands, described a text message exchange with Kennedy last week, in which he joked about elevation to the House of Lords. “He said that he was in London with the kids, packing up his office, and keeping up the political fight.”
Munro said Kennedy had been pragmatic about the likelihood of losing the seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, which he had held for more than three decades. “It wasn’t a case of the voters dumping him – it was a swing all across Scotland. He was aware what was going to happen and we talked about it. He was aware of the size of the swing that he was facing.”
Speaking from her home in Glen Sheil, in the north-west Highlands, Munro recalled being on the committee that picked Kennedy for his first general election candidacy, which led to him becoming an MP at the age of 23.
“What everybody else in the world saw later, we saw first. The fact that we had this startling speaker and a young person with such political insight was easy to sell to the voters.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kennedy celebrates his election as Lib Dem leader in 1999 with his then girlfriend Sarah Gurling and parents, Mary and Ian. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA
Kennedy later became an integral part of her family: her daughter worked as his personal assistant in Inverness for 25 years, her grandchildren were his footsoldiers delivering leaflets, and her husband held a cord at the funeral of Kennedy’s mother.
It was an open secret in political circles long before his resignation as Lib Dem leader in 2006 that Kennedy had a troubled relationship with alcohol. “He had so many tragedies thrown at him,” Munro explained gently, “and we all have our demons.”
The tragedies that Munro refers to go some way to explaining the extraordinary stress under which Kennedy found himself in recent years, culminating in the death of his father last month.
His mother, Mary, had died in 2013. A year later – close to the anniversary of their mother’s death – his older brother, Ian, was paralysed after a fall in his kitchen, leaving him in need of 24-hour care.
A sense of devotion and duty meant Kennedy regarded himself as his family’s primary carer, and wrestling with the pressure of supporting his paralysed brother and elderly parents exacerbated his struggle with alcoholism and what many of his friends and allies feared were periods of undiagnosed depression.
His friends and senior officials within the party complained privately that he was unwilling to seek or accept professional help for his alcoholism; some suggested his depressive bouts and drinking were accepted within the Lochaber community as a private matter rather than a source of shame.
But the drinking, depression and his sense of family duty meant he was frequently called off events and appointments and the party was constantly worried he would fail to appear at speaking engagements.
On Tuesday, close friends of Kennedy rejected allegations that he was drunk on one of his final national media appearances, on Question Time on 12 March; claims fuelled on Twitter after he appeared confused and befuddled, and at times stumbled over his words.
They revealed that Kennedy was in shock after being told shortly before going on air that his frail 88-year-old father, Ian, had been taken to hospital after breaking his hip and was about to undergo emergency surgery.
Rather than cancel and fly home, Kennedy decided to continue with the show. “That was Charlie being upset beyond belief and distracted,” said Conn O’Neill, Kennedy’s election campaign manager.
Kennedy’s aides said he had refused to allow them to make that information public, despite the damage to his reputation. He did not wish to appear to be using his family as an excuse and wanted to protect their privacy.
His father died on 5 April, four weeks after going into hospital at Raigmore in Inverness and a month before the general election.
Munro said his death hit Kennedy hard, further setting back his ailing re-election campaign.
“He was absolutely dedicated to looking after his family,” she said. “They were very close. He was heartbroken when his daddy died during the campaign.”
Worried that the Lib Dems’ poor reputation at national level was undermining Kennedy’s chances and desperate to make him more visible to build up his personal vote, aides and the party had been struggling to get him to hit the campaign trail and use his famous charm and approachability to woo voters.
Scott, who got to know Kennedy when he worked as a parliamentary researcher for Jim Wallace, said: “He was a Highlander first. All that made up his character, his upbringing and his values, were Highland.”
Those values included, said Scott, a fiercely protective attitude to his family, as well as the fact that “he cared about people at the end of the road”.
The Right Honorable Charles Kennedy, pictured in 2009
, British former  who once led the Liberal Democrats, has died at age 55. He was found dead on Monday at his home in , Scotland by his partner, Carole Macdonald.

Kennedy was a Member of Parliament for 32 years, losing his seat in the  to the Scottish National Party just under a month ago. He led the Liberal Democrats from 1999 until his resignation in 2006.

Kennedy first became a Member of Parliament in 1983 at age 23, becoming the youngest MP at the time. He was elected to represent the  constituency under the  (SDP). Through this he helped the party eventually merge with the  to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988. He took over leadership of the party in 1999, replacing .

During his time as party leader he won praise from critics for his opposition to the invasion of Iraq, which was being pushed through by then British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the 2005 general election he saw his party record their highest ever electoral result, winning 62 seats. However his success wouldn't last, with Kennedy resigning the following year after going public with his alcohol abuse problem. 

Tributes have come from politicians across a number of political parties. The first edition of Prime Minister's Questions since the general election took place in the  yesterday and many offered their condolences to Kennedy's family.  Current Prime Minister David Cameron said "Charles Kennedy played a pivotal role in bringing together two parties — the SDP and the Liberals. As leader he took the Liberal Democrats to the best electoral result for a third party in British politics for nearly 100 years."

Nick Clegg, the outgoing leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Kennedy "would have wanted to be remembered as a kind and loving father, brother and son first; and an accomplished politician second". 

 of the House  said to the House, "Charles Kennedy spent almost his entire adult life as an MP. He was assuredly at home in this place, yet perhaps happiest beyond it. He was a man of deep progressive principle, but a man also blessed with the popular touch. He was a good talker but an even better listener. Above all, and perhaps most strikingly, Charles had the rare ability to reach out to millions of people of all political persuasions and of none across the country who were untouched by and in many cases actively hostile to politics. In this seminal sense, therefore, Charles was the boy next door of British public life — we salute him. We honour his memory and we send today our sincere heartfelt and deepest condolences to his family and his friends."

The SNP's , who defeated Kennedy in the general election, said "So sorry to hear the dreadful news that Charles Kennedy had passed away. A man of such great ability, such a tragedy he has passed away. RIP."

The Liberal Democrats have set up an online condolence book on their website where anyone can post tributes and memories of the former MP. 

Kennedy is survived by his partner Carole and 10 year-old son Donald, who he had with his ex-wife, Sarah Gurling. The couple married in 2002 but split in 2010. His mother died in 2013 and his father, Ian, died at the age of 88 in April of this year.


== Sources == 
*
*
*
*