Leading political voices to take part in memorial debate in honour of Kennedy
POLITICIANS across rival parties are to unite to take part in a memorial debate to honour the late Charles Kennedy.
Glasgow University Union will remember one of the university’s most distinguished alumni with the debate in September. The former Liberal Democrat leader, who died last month, was a student, rector and former president of the GUU.
Sir Menzies Campbell, who succeeded Mr Kennedy as LibDem leader in 2006, will chair the debate in the union’s debating chamber.
The participants have yet to be finalised, but organisers expect a “distinguished line-up of speakers from across the political spectrum, including members of both the Scottish and West- minster parliaments”. They will debate the motion “This house believes that the UK should remain within the European Union”.
Rory Slater, of the Glasgow University Union, said: “Everyone at the Glasgow University Union was devastated to hear the news about Charles last month. He was a valued member of the university’s community, not just as a two-term rector, but also as a former president and active alumni of the GUU.”
The event will take place on September 25.
CHARLES Kennedy was a consummate debater and a natural political communicator. So the plan to hold a memorial debate in his name at Glasgow University Union (GUU) is fitting. It will also, inevitably, be a sad occasion.
The subject of the debate will be the UK’s continued membership of the European Union. The former Liberal Democrat leader, who died last month shortly after losing his Westminster seat, had stated his intention to be among those leading the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU. His premature death remains a loss for that campaign. Despite the alcoholism that limited his effectiveness in recent years, he remained someone to have on your side in any debate. At the GUU, while still in his early 20s, he was remarkably successful as a prize-winning debater, indeed, the leading debater of his generation at a time when Glasgow University was pre-eminent in the skill.
He remained an active alumnus and for two terms a popular rector. So it is apt that the union is to host a memorial debate and dinner later this year, serving as a reminder of the way Mr Kennedy was able to marry conviction politics with a genial and accessible way with people, at a time when stage managed leadership contests in his own and other parties leave many alienated.