Portrait of the Week – 14 January 2006

Mr Charles Kennedy, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, called a press conference and said, ‘Over the past 18 months, I’ve been coming to terms with, and seeking to cope with, a drinking problem…. I’ve not had a drink for the past two months and I don’t intend to in the future.’ He invited rivals to stand against him for the leadership in an election by the party’s 73,000 members. But two days later, after 25 MPs had said they would not serve with him, he resigned, and Sir Menzies Campbell, 64, rapidly put his name forward, to be followed by Mr Mark Oaten, 41, while Mr Simon Hughes, 54, hesitated. The results will be known by 2 March. Mr David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative party, said he would no longer seek the establishment of more grammar schools. Asked about the prospects of Mr Gordon Brown succeeding him as leader of the Labour party, Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, spoke of his ‘weight and experience and strength and power’.