BBC Alba, Scotland’s Gaelic language channel, is not normally required viewing for the political classes. This week, however, Lib Dems across the country were seeking it out on Freeview.
The channel last night aired a documentary on Charles Kennedy, the former Lib Dem leader who stood down in 2006 after acknowledging his struggle with alcoholism, which persisted until he died in 2015 at the age of 55.
Three weeks before his death and after 32 years as MP for a Highland constituency – latterly called Ross, Cromarty and Skye – he was defeated in the 2015 General Election by Ian Blackford, now Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party and a man rich in hyperbole, bombast and bluster.
No politician could be more different in style and substance from Charles Kennedy – a man of courtesies and humour with a sharp political edge; a skilled debater who believed in the power of argument, who was respected by his political friends and most foes, which was reflected in the programme’s title: Charles Kennedy: A Good Man Speaking.
In its latter stages, the documentary described the vile campaign Charles was subjected to in the weeks before his death.
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