Menzies Campbell

Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, (born 22 May 1941 ), often known as Ming Campbell, is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete.

He was a sprinter at university and he broke Olympic gold medalist Wyndham Halswelle's 53-year-old Scottish 300 yards record in 1961.

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.

He was elected President of the Glasgow University Liberal Club in 1962, and of the Glasgow University Union for 1964–65.

Campbell competed for the Great Britain team in the 200 metres and 4×100 metres relay at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and captained the Scotland team at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.

He captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965–66.

He is currently the Chancellor of the University of St Andrews.

He also captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965 and 1966, and held the British 100 metres record from 1967 to 1974.

Campbell held the British record for the 100 metre sprint from 1967 to 1974, having run the distance in 10.2 seconds.

At one time he was known as "the fastest white man on the planet", running the 100m in 10.2 seconds twice during 1967.

In his first 10.2-second race he beat O. J. Simpson, who was then an aspiring athlete.

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.

Lady Campbell died on 5 June 2023, aged 83.

Khatami was elected as President of Iran in 1997 and 2001, both occasions on platforms of social and political reform and a "Dialogue Among Civilizations" that put Khatami significantly at odds with his conservative successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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."

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.

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.

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.

Campbell's early performances at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions were criticised, leading him to declare himself "perfectly confident" that he could fulfil the role of party leader.

Campbell regained some ground with the controversy over the US practice of "extraordinary rendition", the case of the NatWest Three, and the conflict in Lebanon.

According to polls published in July 2006, twice as many voters preferred Charles Kennedy as leader over Campbell, which led to further criticism of Campbell's leadership.

However, Kennedy called rumours that he was considering challenging for the leadership as "fanciful".

The University of St Andrews awarded an honorary doctorate of law to former President Mohammad Khatami of Iran, which sparked some criticism, although as Chancellor he is only the titular head and not involved in such decisions.

Shortly before Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister in June 2007, Campbell was invited to a meeting with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Brown surprised Campbell by requesting that two Liberal Democrats (Lord Ashdown and Lady Neuberger) join his cabinet.

After taking 24 hours to consult and consider, Campbell rejected the offer as unworkable, given the gulf between the parties on issues of foreign policy and civil liberties.

Labour leaked news of the meeting to the media and went behind Campbell to offer the job of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to Ashdown anyway; he turned it down.

After intense speculation in late 2007, Gordon Brown announced there would be no general election in 2007.

Following this announcement, Campbell's leadership again came under question, with some in the party feeling that now the heat was off the time was ripe to get a younger leader potentially more capable of connecting with voters.

On 15 October, Campbell's deputy Vince Cable conceded on BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme that Campbell's position was "certainly under discussion", adding "I don't think it's under threat", but on the same programme party stalwart Sir Chris Clarke advised Campbell to "go with dignity and go back to being foreign affairs spokesman, where the world listens to you."

Later the same day came an announcement by the party that Campbell would step down as leader.

Campbell resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats on 15 October 2007.

The announcement was made from the steps of Cowley Street by Party President Simon Hughes.

He was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours.