Menzies Campbell
Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, CH, CBE, PC, KC (/ˈmɪŋɪs/; born 22 May 1941[1]), often known as Ming Campbell, is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from 1987 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.[2]
The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Campbell held the British record for the 100 metre sprint from 1967 to 1974, having run the distance in 10.2 seconds. He captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965–66. He is currently the Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. He was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours.[3]
Education and early career[edit]
Born in Glasgow, Campbell was educated at Hillhead High School and the University of Glasgow, graduating with a Scottish Master of Arts (MA) in 1962 and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1965.[4] He was elected President of the Glasgow University Liberal Club in 1962, and of the Glasgow University Union for 1964–65.[4]
Member of Parliament[edit]
Liberal Democrats frontbenches[edit]
As foreign affairs spokesperson, Campbell was prominent in the Liberal Democrat opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, arguing that the British government should publish the Attorney General's secret advice on the war's legality and criticising Tony Blair's support for President George W. Bush. In 2004, Campbell set out his view of the Anglo-American relationship in the context of an unjust war: "For more than 60 years we have been engaged in an intimate and rewarding relationship with the United States. We must not allow our foreign policy to be defined by that relationship. We have to recognize that the World's most powerful English-speaking nation will always be a powerful influence upon us. Given what we share, it could hardly be otherwise. But a relationship with the United States based on the flawed principle, "my ally right or wrong" is not only profoundly illiberal but will be unsustainable as well."[10]
Leader of the Liberal Democrats[edit]
On 7 January 2006, Campbell became interim leader following Kennedy's resignation, before winning the subsequent leadership contest. On 2 March 2006, Campbell was declared leader after winning the leadership election under the alternative vote method. The first-round votes placed him in the lead, at 23,264 to Huhne's 16,691 and Simon Hughes's 12,081. Hughes was accordingly eliminated, and his second-preference votes were split between the two remaining candidates. The final result was Campbell at 29,697 and Chris Huhne at 21,628 on a 72% membership turnout.[11]
Campbell promoted many younger MPs to his frontbench team including former MEP Nick Clegg as Home Affairs spokesperson and 26-year-old Jo Swinson as Scotland spokesperson.[12]
Political views[edit]
Campbell promoted policies to shift taxation away from "goods" such as employment and towards "bads" such as pollution through a revenue-neutral restructuring of the tax system that maintains the current tax burden whilst lifting two-million low-paid individuals out of income tax altogether.[35]
Campbell's primary area of interest is acknowledged to be foreign policy. He strongly supports multilateral institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations but argues that the European Union must reform to become more democratic and the United Nations must develop new mechanisms for dealing with humanitarian crises.[36]
He has been critical of what he claims as the "disproportionate military action" employed by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza and in Lebanon, contending that Israel's tactics exacerbate existing tensions and lead to human rights abuses.[17] Though a supporter of Anglo-American cooperation, Campbell has argued that the Bush-Blair relationship was one-sided and that the Labour government pursued it at the expense of Britain's standing in other international institutions, particularly the EU and UN.
Campbell had stressed the need for the Liberal Democrats to provide extra support for female, disabled and ethnic minority candidates seeking to contest winnable seats.[37]
In July 2007, Campbell unveiled tax proposals that amounted to a large shift in the tax burden away from low-income and middle-income earners and onto higher-earners and pollution. This was to be implemented by cutting the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 16%, closing £13.5 billion of tax loopholes for high-earners and imposing larger green taxes on polluters. Campbell said of the proposals that "the unacceptable reality is that in Britain today the poorest pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the super-rich" and that his aim was for "the rich and people with environmentally damaging lifestyles to pay a fairer share".
Campbell is a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.[38]
In August 2018, Campbell spoke at a People's Vote rally in Edinburgh. People's Vote was a campaign group calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union.[39]
Personal life[edit]
Campbell married Elspeth, Lady Grant-Suttie, daughter of Major General Roy Urquhart and former wife of Sir Philip Grant-Suttie, 8th Baronet, in June 1970. The couple had no children, but Lady Campbell had a son from her first marriage.[40] Lady Campbell died on 5 June 2023, aged 83.[41]
Honours[edit]
Campbell was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1987 New Year Honours;[42] he became a Privy Counsellor in the 1999 New Year Honours;[43] and he was knighted in the 2004 New Year Honours for services to Parliament,[44] having the honour conferred by the Prince of Wales on 27 May 2004.[45]
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for public and political service.[46][47] He was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and created Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, of Pittenweem in the County of Fife, on 13 October 2015.[48]
Campbell has honorary degrees from the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde. He was the only person nominated to succeed Sir Kenneth Dover after he retired as Chancellor of the University of St Andrews on 1 January 2006, so took office immediately after nominations closed on 9 January 2006. He was installed as Chancellor on 22 April 2006, at which time he also received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
In 2010 it was reported that Campbell had been considered for the post of High Commissioner to Australia; The Guardian claimed it had been stalled as it would trigger a by-election in Campbell's constituency.[49]