‘Charles tried to rise above it, but it must have hurt’

year-old son, Donald, by his former wife Sarah, from whom he separated in 2010.

Yet behind Charles Kennedy’s bonhomous facade, things were not necessarily quite so rosy. Indeed, according to many of those closest to him, a dark shadow was thrown over his final weeks.

It revolved — as the vandalism and vilification detailed above suggests — around a remarkably vigorous political hate campaign levelled at him during his ill- fated General Election battle.

Waged not just in cyberspace, but also i n the streets of his l arge constituency, it saw mostly SNP loyalists mou n t extensive personal attacks on a deliberate and concerted basis.

At times, according to one of Scotland’s most senior Lib Dem officials, their behaviour strayed close to harassment.

‘I have never known aggression like it in 30 years of politics,’ said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of SNP reprisals. ‘He and his staff were shouted at on doorsteps, and had leaflets thrown in their f ace. But the worst of it happened online, where he was just monstered.

‘It’s a form of bullying that would not be tolerated in any playground. Charles tried to rise above it, but he couldn’t always. It must have hurt.’

To appreciate the general tone of such nastiness, you need only glance at Twitter, where, on the morning of election day, Kennedy remarked: ‘ Campaign t e ams across t he constituency are fighting hard to win, polls are open until 10pm. Spare me a thought.’

A f ew seconds l ater, an SNP supporter called Paul Smythe responded to this innocuous comment as follows: ‘I will give you a thought tomorrow when you are where you belong, retired and not a