Charles Kennedy RIP

Sad news indeed.

seemed a decent chap

Very brave stand over the mad Iraq venture when the official opposition ( led by the toxic IDS )were Blair's main cheerleaders.

Iain dale in his blog hinting suicide,hope not

Lembit Opik all but said it on BBC News about 10 mins ago.

Police were called to the scene so would perhaps think so.

Alistair Campbells comments on charlie ring most true.

To live the life he did with the demons he had was some achievement, a sad day.

A NICE MAN,WHOSE LIFE WAS RUINED BY ALCOHOL LIKE SO MANY,IM SO SORRY

RIP

death not suspicious acc to the police

That means they don't think anybody else killed him.

Such a shame he couldn't put his focus into his young son after losing his dad and seat but was probably near impossible too with the demons he had The greatest saying in the world is 'Never judge a person till you've walked a mile in their shoes' RIP.

jim beam is probably the top suspect

Amen, ladycarla 

yeah,his son only 10

plenty to live for

no shame losing your seat, people of Scotland would still listen respect him

hope not financial worries

massive tragic if it is suicide

He always seemed a decent fellow. Very sad.

Craig Murray --blog

Iraq War

Charlie told me the story of how, as party leader, he was invited by Blair to Downing Street to be shown the original key evidence on Iraqi WMD.

Charlie was really worried as he walked there, that there really would be compelling evidence as Blair said, and he would then be unable to maintain the party line against the war.

When he saw the actual intelligence on which the dodgy dossier was based, he was astounded. It was incredibly weak and “totally unconvincing”.

Blair was not present while Charlie saw the reports, but he saw him afterwards and told Blair he was quite astonished by the paucity of the evidence.

Blair went white and looked really rattled, and resorted to a plea for patriotic solidarity. H

He then reminded Charlie he was not allowed to reveal what he had seen. Charlie felt bound by good faith – he had been shown the intelligence in confidence – not to publish this. Not I think his best moral judgement.

you have one life,it is yours to improve or waste as you see fit. If you have children the lines of responsibility blur but ultimately we choose our own paths. People will come on the telly or in the press expressing why didn't he reach out? Probably because he was a proud man and his true friends would know he lived in mental turmoil. Those who ask the question why didn't he ask for help? Why didn't they offer it? His recent TV appearances were car crash TV, his distress was obvious and he has perhaps not found solace but ended his purgatory. Struggling to function in his own world perhaps he didn't feel responsible enough to care for and raise a child.

when you think he could have had another thirty or forty  years it must be devastating for his son .

xmoneyx     02 Jun 15 09:43 
Iain dale in his blog hinting suicide,hope not

That was my first thought and quite a bit had gone wrong in his life over the years and especially recently and I just wondered if he'd given up and had had enough.

Plus if he was maybe alone at the time and with a bottle of something, it can easily affect someone's judgement and make them do something that if they got to see the next morning, would have them asking themselves what were they thinking.

i suspect most in that situation have already seen many a 'next morning' before they finally succumb

very sad news, seemed like a genuinely decent guy - unlike so many of the self serving baztards that inhabit Westminster these days.

Nicely put, duncan.

Thank you, saddo