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I love this post by Peter at lunartalks. To safe the hastle of debating this for 30 years. here is our Lee Harvey Oswald. Daisy McAndrew However, her co-conspirators on a grassy knoll did leave their names of various bits of paper.

Matt in the Telegraph, Via Westminster Village

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the latter part of his leadership I feel very sad that Charles Kennedy has ended up having to stand down as party leader. I can't claim to know Charles hugely well, but I have met him on many occasions, mainly through work, and I have always been impressed by his personality and politics. He must be going through a difficult time at present and I wish both him and Sarah all the best at what is undoubtedly a very difficult time for them. At the present time it is easy to forget just how ...

debating who assassinated a Kennedy.

On a local level, far away from Westminster, the town of Warwick has a steady increase in members and activists. I was greatly encouraged by a talk given by Lynne Featherstone at the autumn conference about how she built up a derelict constituency. This is the situation we faced in the Warwick part of the Warwick & Leamington Constituency. However in the past year we have more than doubled the number of activists, have a strategy (its secret, if I told you it wouldn't be secret would it) and plan to put out our first Focus by the end of ...

Well much has been said about the developments today. So where next. It is clear we need a leader that not only has the support of the grass roots membership we need a leader that has the support of the Parliamentary party, someone who can provide energy and direction. I notice that in John Hemmings Blog he threatens to stand. The thing with John is I can never work out whether this is blind arrogance or a warped sense of humour. Menzies Campbell has thrown his hat into the ring. Probably the candidate everybody hoped would stand. I cirtainly ...

While part of Ken's attack on my previous post was concerned with Charles's leadership, large sections of it, and his subsequent speculation, were not. To be brief, I think he completely misunderstands the nature of the party. There are a number of people arguing that we need to put more emphasis on liberalism in economic fields, and remembering that often economic liberalism means acting in the interests of consumers rather than producers-- all good lessons to take on board. But fundamentally, there is a cohesion between all members of the party, centred on the principles of freedom and the goal ...

What a rotten end to a rotten week for anyone associated with the Lib Dems. It looked to me inevitable that Charles would go but the circumstances have been about as bad as they could be. I watched Charles make his resignation speech live and it was, as others have said, him at his best. [...]

And so, alas, we have to say goodbye to Charles Kennedy as our glorious leader. I freely admit that I didn't vote for him for the leadership when he won, but I grew to respect his political judgement, something that I had been suspicious of when he was declared the victor. On the key issues, his instincts have always been liberal, and I've been comfortable with the direction the Party has gone in

I had seen a waistcoat that I quite fancied in the Indian Village Industries Emporium, and decided to go and buy it yesterday. So I caught the train, and, on the way across town, I dropped in to the Khadi Village Clothing Emporium, as recommended by my father. It's a Government of India enterprise, proof that socialism works... sometimes. Imagine if you will a 1940's department store, with tiled

This afternoon's resignation had become inevitable. It is sad that it has come to this, but I think that had Charles gone on to stand again, he would not have won. Despite his popularity and deserved respect, we all knew that the end of the road had been reached. I do hope that the press will now leave Charles and his family alone and concentrate on covering the leadership election. Who should succeed him? Certainly Ming Campbell is someone I respect enormously. He must rank as our most respected politician. His experience and wisdom would make a sharp contrast to ...

Now that Kennedy has resigned, it seems to me like Menzies Campbell will be a shoe-in for the Lib Dem leadership. Not just because of the YouGov poll today which showed his popularity, but because any of the other contenders would be too contentious. I know Richard disagrees with me on this, but I still believe the Lib Dem Parliamentary party is too split to take a leader from either side, be it Hughes or Oaten, without internal strife. And given the fact that Kennedy has appeared to have been living on borrowed time since the party conference, images of ...

Looking at my bookshelf I see on one battered spine of my dogeared copy of Charles Kennedy 'The Future of Politics'. So what is the future of politics for the Liberal Democrat Party? In Charles' resignation speech he said that: 'A new, democratically-elected leader is in place as soon as possible to take the party forward.' Like Chris Black said only 5 days ago, it seems longer, I don't want a

"There comes a time in every man's life when he must make way for an older man." A sad, if inevitable, day.

An e-mail reaches me: As part of the Liberal Democrats Online "Moving Forward" project, a number of new online projects were set up. One of these was a "blog review site", which is now complete in the form of Liberal Review.I am sorry it has had such a quiet week for its launch, but no doubt things will pick up.

It is rather sad for Charles Kennedy to end up resigning the way he did. He did get the party to the best result for a third party since the 1920s. It also means that the party members have not had the chance to vote on the issue. This means it is crucial that the party members have a chance to vote as to who the next leader is. Next Saturday is the "Meeting the Challenge" Conference. I shall

It's sad, but also a relief , that Charles has resigned. I hope that he now has the time he needs to devote to himself, his family and his constituency before making a return to Front-Bench politics. With luck, he has another 25 years in politics ahead of him. That's all I want to say, don't think I have the mental energy to write much more anyway ...

It has been a sad day for Liberal Democrats everywhere. Although Charles Kennedy's decision to resign was inevitable and in the best interests of the party, it should not detract from the huge contribution he has made to our cause. He has proved to be a popular and politically courageous leader, who led us through two General Elections to our best results since the 1920s. His speech today was dignified as he has been throughout. It underlined his talent and the tragedy that his own problems prevented him from going on to even greater things. As I said yesterday, I ...

Charles Kennedy's speech today was dignified, if a few days late. I wish him well, and I am sure he will return to the front benches in time. On a local note, Edward Davey has just announced that he will not be standing in the leadership election. By yesterday he was being given odds of 7:1 by some of the online betting sites, so I'm sorry that he isn't having a go. But as things are...

It became increasingly obvious yesterday that Charles was not going to survive and today's statement came as little surprise. We can hope that Charles will continue to play a role in the party – as well as no doubt getting syndicated newspaper columns and his own TV show etc. It looks as though MPs are closing ranks behind Sir Menzies Campbell. I have never been a particular fan of his, but he has the dignity and gravitas and reputation as a big hitter to hold his own against the other leaders. He is probably among the best known of the ...

In this morning's issue of The Times, Simon Barnes writes on the scandalous development proposed at Coate Water just outside Swindon. It is a scandal, not just because a growing town like Swindon needs all the recreational space and beauty it can get, but because Coate was the childhood home of the great 19th century nature writer Richard Jefferies. More than that, it was the landscape immortalised in his novel Bevis: The Story of a Boy. This is the book that revolutionised writing about children and gave birth to the whole genre of holiday adventure fiction for children - ...

In the past couple of days anonymous comments have been left making allegations against named individuals. In one case that individual was acquitted after a trial, and in the other I have no way of knowing if the allegations are true. So, after some reflection, I have deleted both comments. Liberal England now has far more readers than it did even a few months ago - thanks in part to Charles Kennedy's recent travails. So I now have to start taking the possibility of libel seriously. If you have some juicy gossip, please e-mail me privately. If you simply post ...

Charles Kennedy has just resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats. His statement was impressively dignified, given the difficult circumstances. I hope he will have a long and fruitful future in politics. But it would have been better for all concerned if he had made that statement on Thursday evening.

as I started to type this simon Hughes has just said on BBC 24 that this is a thank you to Charles day, I wholeheartedly agree. Firstly thank you Charles for taking on the leadership of this party in 1999 when many said we had reached our peak, and thank you for taking us to even greater heights in the tow elections since. Thank you for you great contribution over 22 1/2 years from the baby of

Charles Kennedy's last act as leader showed him at his best. Self-assured, looking almost relieved of a burden, he gave an eloquent statement of his vision for the Liberal Democrats as a party. It was an emotional statement, but its most interesting content was not the personal remarks, but his comments on the party itself. He gave a stark warning to the party about the risks of being manipulated by those who do not share the liberal vision, which I take to be a reference to media pressure. He decried the "left/right" division, or the "economic/social" division ...

A good resignation speech by Kennedy. Dignified and reflective. Image by Zoe

The Guardian this morning illustrates perfectly my point about George Galloway having a job to do. Their journalist poses as a constituent in need and tries to get help from his MP. Alas, all his attempts to secure assistance fails. Meanwhile, Channel 4 makes it clear that George will not be able to use his incarceration to make any political point. All of this leaves us asking the question: "What is the point of George Galloway?". If he did not exist would it be necessary to re-invent him? The answer to both questions are negatives. Still, he ...

Hm, it looks like Kenendy may have come to the same judgement about the future; the BBC just reported he's speaking at 3pm.

by Peter I´m writing this before hearing the 3pm statement. I can only believe that this will be a resignation statement. It will be a sad end to a successful period as Leader. I hope we will see Charles on the front bench very soon. Two questions arise: who will lead us, and how? My preference is Campbell, and if not Campbell, Clegg. Either we take the fight to a new area where we can win (gravitas) or we find someone who is younger, better-looking and smilier than Cameron. But all of the candidates have their merits. And as Alex ...

This weekend the Liberal Democrats face a crisis over the leadership. On Thursday, Charles Kennedy announced he has a drink problem and is dealing with it. Further, he said he is willing to fight a leadership election if anyone wants to challenge him. By Friday eleven members of the Shadow Cabinet announced that they would resign from their posts and not serve under Kennedy. At the same time,

Once I heard Charles's statement on Thursday - as I said yesterday - it became clear to me that I could no longer continue my support for him to remain as leader. The hardest thing is trying to make your own mind up - to get your own thinking straight. For me, as a Charles loyalist, once my gut feelings told me that his position was untenable and that his 'statement' made with a gun to his head of

Somewhat surprisingly and in a rather rushed manner there is about to be another election for the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party. I have always said that it is a job that I was interested in doing at some stage. I am currently in the process of taking soundings as to whether or not I should stand. There are quite a few people in Birmingham who are quite enthusiastic about that idea. My

Yesterday morning, I wrote to Charles Kennedy and asked him to stay. I told him how proud and admiring I was of the way he dealt with his statement the previous evening. I suggested that there was still scope for a great Clinton-esque comeback. I genuinely hoped the public would react positively. I felt that Kennedy had done a great deal for the party, and was the best man to oversee the much-needed professionalisation and regeneration of the party. I wrote something similar here, on this blog, and it seems to have been the only piece of unequivocal support the ...

...this kind of support had been more forthcoming from Charles Kennedy's parliamentary colleagues.

Announcing the Liberal Review.

Rarely has Enoch Powell's dictum - "all political careers end in failure" - seemed so apt. When Charles Kennedy became leader of the Liberal Democrats, six years ago, he took over a party buoyed by its breakthrough in the 1997 landslide election, at which the Party doubled its Parliamentary representation to 46 MPs. But there was nervousness too. There was a fear that the party had become too

Posting as a grassroots activist who has been backing Charles to stay as leader, I now say it is time to go.It's now obvious that Charles hasn't had the support of most of his front bench for almost a year, and that he has been ignoring their requests to stand down. It's a shame that the gang of 11 didn't have the guts to send their letter before Christmas or call for a vote of confidence before now.Instead as a party we are left with a leadership election of one, who will have no shadow cabinet.Hopefully by Monday morning we ...

Matthew Taylor has been dewy-eyed of Truro; playing the role of George to Kennedy’s Lenny. “I love you so much, I’ll never forget you” he mews as he gently squeezes the trigger. Ironic really, because with his moist, saucer-like peepers, Taylor does himself rather resemble a recalcitrant puppy, about to be extinguished by it’s owner.

Over the past few days the country has been watching agog, as the extraordinary fast moving developments surrounding Charles Kennedy's leadership of the party unfold. I've always been a Charles Kennedy supporter but his public statement over his alcohol problem at the enth hour before an expected ITN scoop, has really cooked his goose. Admittedly he was extremely brave in making the statement but he should have been more up-front about it in the first place. It was an open secret that he liked a drink (many politicians do - most late-night meetings end with a winding down drink) but ...

It had been a long, hot day of shopping and Laurie (our guest from Boston) and I were heading back to the hotel by auto-rickshaw from Santacruz station. We were chatting about the traffic when I noticed that the next vehicle in the line was in fact an elephant. You don't see a lot of elephants in Santacruz, and so I took the opportunity to get out of the rickshaw and stroke the elephant (they're a

I have just returned from the Livingston and Murrayfield by-elections thank you party (as I pledged yesterday I remained on soft drinks all night). I have been forthright in my support for Charles Kennedy over the last 24 hours and have received over 160 visitors to this blog since his statement on Thursday evening. However, whilst I was heading to the party the news that 25 members of the

I have just sent the following to Charles Kennedy, copied to our 61 other MPs: Dear Charles, Thank you for your recent statement, and for your invitation to Lib Dem members to make known our views. You have been an incredibly successful leader of this Party, and I thank you for all you have done. You have consistently made the right calls on the big decisions that mattered. You have led the Lib

And so we leave the first week of the new year with a political stalemate. The key players of the Parliamentary Party want Charles to do the honorable thing. Charles wishing to take it to the grass roots members in a leadership contest. No one willing to stand against him. I count myself as one of those who reluctantly conclude that there is no way that Charles position can be tenable. Even if someone could be found to stand in the leadership poll and even should he win, this does not solve the fact that the majority of the ...

by David Langshaw I am one of the lowest forms of political life in the Liberal Democrats: my only job is to deliver leaflets. I do not hold any elected office, and I am not on any Executive Committees, Working Parties, Policy Fora or any of the other things that people get on to in order to avoid delivering their own leaflets. I am also a party loyalist, not greatly exercised by policy nuances or philosophical debates. I pay my subs, read the Liberal Democrat News and can be relied on to turn up for any by elections ...

Clearly Kennedy can't survive now and it is a matter of someone twisting his arm strongly enough over the weekend to get him to resign with as much dignity as he can muster. It is a great shame. I didn't vote for him in 1999, but feel that the party made the right decision then and I the wrong one. It is hard to see how any of his rivals would have done as good a job in the last two elections. Cymru Mark in response to my last post implies the Lib Dems would have done equally well under ...

It's a rare event that I see trailers for a new show on TV and think "I'd really quite like to catch that". With My Name Is Earl, however, I made a rare exception. Partially, this is because I was in America throughout most of September, and was thus subjected to endless trailers promoting the various channels' new shows. Not that I watched much TV, you understand - these things are plastered across billboards everywhere. Add to the mix the good write-ups it got over there, and the fact that I returned home the day it premiered, and my interest ...