Recent events within the Liberal Democrats

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Informer on Mon 16th Jan 2006

The Informer covered prominently my role in the resignation of my, then, leader, Charles Kennedy. That unhappy event raised wider issues about the private lives and habits of politicians.

Charles publicly acknowledged that he had an alcohol problem. An earlier generation of politicians also drank heavily - Winston Churchill and George Brown most prominently - but, for the former at least, it was not widely known and not seen as a serious impediment.

Other politicians have had love affairs or controversial sex lives which were exposed after they left office - as with John Major, or Presidents Kennedy and Mitterand - or during it, like David Blunkett or Peter Mandelson or Paddy Ashdown.

Drugs are a more recent source of controversy and David Cameron's youthful indiscretions - if such they were - may well resurface.

None of us are saints and we should all remember the biblical injunction: 'let those who are without sin cast the first stone'. Private lives are relevant only if they affect performance or if there is hypocrisy involved: saying one thing and doing another. In this case it was the former though the issue was agonisingly difficult since our leader was popular and had been a success.

If someone has to go, others have to take responsibility to act. It is as messy and unpleasant with party leaders as with professional colleagues in education or medicine or with employees. For public figures, there is the added risk of public exposure and humiliation.

I can honestly confess to have learnt more about human nature, acting under pressure, in the last few weeks than in many years previously. But we have now moved on; my party is choosing a new leader; and the mood has moved rapidly from recrimination to a positive conviction that we shall bounce back and succeed.