Menzies ('Ming') Campbell CBE QC MP

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Lib Dem majority: 12,571  (33%)

Constituency: Fife North East

Region: Scotland

PA Number: 248

Address:
North East Fife Liberal Democrats
16 Millgate
Cupar
Fife
KY15 5EG

Tel: (01334) 656361

Fax: (01334) 654045

Email: fife_office@mingcampbell.org.uk

Web: http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/

Date of Birth: 22/05/1941

Occupation: MP

Education: Hillhead High School, Glasgow; Glasgow University - MA Arts 1962, LLB Law 1965; Stanford University, California, USA - Post-graduate International Law 1966-7

Experience: Competed in 1964 Olympic & 1966 Commonwealth Games; knighted in 2004 New Year Honours

Parliamentary Experience: Elected MP June 1987, Shadow Foreign Secretary 1997-2006, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2003-06, Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2006-07

Marital status/children: Married

BIOGRAPHY

I enjoyed careers in athletics and the law before winning the North East Fife constituency from the Conservatives in 1987.

I grew up in Glasgow where I benefited from a first class education at Hillhead High School. Whilst at Glasgow University I was President of the Union. I also competed in the 1964 Olympic & 1966 Commonwealth Games, was captain of the UK athletics team 1965-6 and held the UK 100 metres record for seven years from 1967.

I studied law at Glasgow University and International Law at Stanford University in California and was called to the bar in Scotland in 1968 and made a QC in 1982.

I have contested every General Election since 1974, becoming Member of Parliament for North East Fife in 1987. I was made a Privy Counsellor in 1999 and served as the Liberal Democrat spokesman on Foreign Affairs before being elected Leader in March 2006. I also became Chancellor of St Andrews University in April 2006.

Sir Menzies ("Ming") Campbell was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats by vote of the national party membership on March 2nd 2006 and served until October 15th 2007. The election was carried out using the Single Transferable Vote system, and in the first round Ming had the support of 23,264 members. In the second round he received a total of 29,697 members, 57 per cent of the second round votes and a majority of 8,069.

This movie was made after his election as leader:

He runs the risk of giving politicians a good name
The Times

He is reasonable, eloquent and appears entirely trustworthy
Daily Mail

He has proved as intelligent and decent a politician as you'll find in the Commons
The Guardian

No television or radio broadcast on Iraq has seemed complete without his measured, authoritative insights ... all the while delivering a ruthless critique of government choices
The Herald

Menzies is pronounced MING-iss, the "z" being a transliteration of the Gaelic "yogh" which was originally part of the name.

Ming Campbell grew up in Glasgow, son of an Independent Labour Party supporting joiner who had worked his way up to become general manager of Glasgow City Council's building department. Ming was educated at Hillhead High School and the University of Glasgow,. At university he was elected President of the Liberal Club (1962) and of the Glasgow University Union (1964-5) and won a scholarship to Stanford University, California.

A successful university athlete, Ming was a finalist in the 200 metres at the 1964 summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was the AAA 220 yards champion in 1964 and 1967, captained the UK Athletics team in 1965 and 1966, and captained the Scotland team at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. He held, and rebroke, the British 100 metre record from 1967 to 1974.

He qualified as an advocate, admitted to the Faculty of Advocates, the Scottish Bar, in 1968 and becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1982.

Though asked to contest Greenock at the General Election in June 1970 Ming declined because the date clashed with his marriage to Elspeth, Lady Suttie, daughter of the war hero Major General Roy Urquhart who commanded the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. He did, though, contest Greenock and Port Glasgow in the elections of February and October 1974, and was elected Chairman of the Scottish Liberal Party in 1975.

Adopted as prospective candidate for East Fife in January 1976, he doubled the party's vote at the election May 1979, coming second with a 23 per cent share of the poll. As candidate for North-East Fife in 1983 he increased the Liberal share of vote again to 40.2 per cent, and finally won the seat (with a majority of  1,447) as a Liberal at the General Election in June 1987, immediately being appointed the party's spokesman on Arts, Broadcasting and Sport.

The North-East Fife constituency which Ming has represented since 1987 is successor to the constituencies which returned two previous Liberal prime ministers, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Asquith.

Sitting as a Liberal Democrat from 1988, Ming was successively the party spokesman on sport and defence (1988-1994), foreign affairs and defence (1994-1997). and on foreign affairs, Europe and defence from 1997 to 2001.

Ming was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer in 2002, but made a full recovery and in his continuing role as spokesman on foreign affairs played a leading role in the party's opposition to the war in Iraq. He was elected Deputy Leader of the party, with support of 31 MPs, in succession to Alan Beith in 2003.

Ming was appointed CBE in the 1987 New Years Honours List and became a Privy Counsellor in the 1998 New Year Honours. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2004 New Years Honours for "services to Parliament". He holds honorary degrees from Glasgow and Strathclyde universities and became Chancellor of St Andrews University in April 2006. He stood down as party leader in October 2007.

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