Catherine LystBBC Scotland
Former Liberal Democrat chief Lord Menzies Campbell has died on the age of 84.
Ming as he was broadly identified, led the Liberal Democrats from 2006 to 2007 and was the MP for North East Fife at Westminster for 28 years.
In his first profession as a sprinter, he held the UK 100m document from 1967 to 1974 and ran within the 1964 Tokyo Olympics – being dubbed The Flying Scotsman.
Lib Dem chief Ed Davey described Campbell as “a devoted public servant and a real Liberal large”.
He stated: “His principled management opposing the Iraq Conflict was a mark of his morality, braveness and knowledge.
“However greater than that, he was an extremely heat and caring pal and colleague. We’ll miss him terribly.”
Campbell died peacefully in London following a interval of respite care. His grandson was with him.
His household stated one in all his ultimate days was spent watching the Liberal Democrat convention, and having fun with watching video messages from political mates.
Getty PhotosCampbell first stood as a Liberal Celebration candidate in 1974, however didn’t win his constituency till 1987.
He made his identify because the social gathering’s overseas affairs spokesman, a place he held for 14 years and was a famend critic of the Iraq warfare.
He turned a member of the Home of Lords in 2015. His official title was Baron Campbell of Pittenweem.
Expressing his condolences, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney stated Campbell was one of many nation’s most “well-liked political figures”.
He stated Campbell was “a passionate believer in a greater Scotland” but additionally a robust internationalist – eager to construct consensus and discover frequent floor.
Swinney stated: “These getting into public service at present might be taught a lot from his fashion – all the time forthright in talking up for what he believed in, however by no means something apart from respectful, courteous and well mannered to his political opponents.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat chief Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP stated Campbell was one of many “most revered politicians of his technology”.
He stated: “The primary political factor I ever did was to ship leaflets for Ming on the morning of his first election to Parliament in 1987.
“He was my MP, he was my mentor and he was my pal. From the Olympic monitor to the benches of Westminster, his contribution to public life will lengthy be remembered.”
Getty PhotosSir Nick Clegg, who succeeded him as Liberal Democrat chief, stated he had an amazing curiosity and experience in overseas affairs.
He stated he was fairly “in step” with mainstream coverage pondering on this space, which made his intervention on the Iraq warfare extra spectacular.
On a private degree, he stated he visited him earlier this month in a nursing dwelling and was struck by his “limitless, unqualfied devotion” to his late spouse Elspeth.
“He spoke about after they first met. It was fairly great. You could possibly see him transported again to the primary time he set eyes on her,” he informed the BBC’s World at One.
Wendy Chamberlain, present MP for North East Fife, stated Campbell “remained a big determine” within the space.
She added: “His contributions to our communities, to the College of St Andrews, in addition to to Scotland and the UK have been immeasurable.
“Though he discovered the passing of his beloved Elspeth tough, slightly than retreat, till the final weeks of his life, he was nonetheless travelling to London to contribute within the Home of Lords.”
Born Walter Menzies Campbell on 22 Might 1941, Cambell was introduced up in a Glasgow tenement.
He was educated at Hillhead Excessive College and went on to the College of Glasgow, the place he was a up to date of each John Smith and Donald Dewar finding out Legislation and debating within the union.
He additionally attended Stanford College in California in the course of the Vietnam Conflict and later turned an advocate.
Sprinting document
He was was referred to as to the Scottish bar in 1968 and made a QC (latterly KC) in 1982. The legislation gave him a profitable profession and he continued to practise all through his time in politics.
His spouse of greater than 50 years, Elspeth, died in June 2023 – he described her as his “fixed political companion, all the time my encouragement and eternally my first line of defence”.
The couple have been married in June 1970, simply three months after first assembly.
Throughout his athletics profession, Campbell captained the British males’s group on the 1966 Commonwealth Video games in Jamaica.
A yr later he set a brand new British 100m document of 10.2 seconds – beating a younger OJ Simpson within the course of. The document stood till 1972.
At one level he was referred to as “the quickest white man on the planet”.
Menzies Campbell’s contribution to our politics was far higher than his quick spell as social gathering chief suggests.
His was an especially nicely knowledgeable voice on defence and overseas affairs which was central to the general public debate throughout and after the Iraq warfare.
He and his late spouse Elspeth have been the very best of political firm with a substantial amount of perception into the Westminster points and characters of the day.
In some ways Elspeth was extra formidable for her husband than he was for himself. His interval as social gathering chief was not a cheerful one.
He was on the receiving finish of a persistent ageism – caricatured as a grandfatherly determine together with his finest days behind him compared with rival leaders like Tony Blair and David Cameron.
When showing on TV for interview he all the time insisted on sporting a tie as a result of he felt it was what his constituents would anticipate.
However I knew he’d given in to modernising advisers who wrongly thought they might reinvent his picture when one Sunday morning he appeared in our studio in an open-necked shirt. It was not lengthy earlier than he resigned.
It was his knowledge, expertise and courtesy that have been his best strengths and these have been undervalued qualities throughout his time on the prime.
