Subj: UK: Kennedy's gamble



Date: 24 Sept, 1999



Source: Daily Mail (UK)





Kennedy's gamble

Lib Dem leader risks backlash on cannabis and Army gays



Charles Kennedy used his first major speech as Liberal 

Democratic leader to demand a national debate on legalising 

cannabis and an end to the ban on gays in the armed forces.



Gambling against the risk of a backlash, he broke with 

convention by focusing on two of the most controversial 

issues in politics.



Delegates at the Lib Dems conference in Harrogate welcomed 

his call for gays in the military and an overhaul of drugs 

laws. But his strategy could well backfire by alienating 

former Tory voters who supported the party at the last 

election.



His demand for a Royal Commission on drugs less than 48 

hours after the death of Labour minister Ian McCartney's son 

Hugh leaves him particularly vulnerable to attacks from both 

Labour and the Tories.



While Mr Kennedy stopped short of calling for so-called soft 

drugs to be legalised, aides later made clear the issue 

would be central to the debate on drugs he was demanding.



'On drugs, there's an ominous silence in Westminster. Not 

the silence of the lambs but the silence of the sheep and 

the herd instinct that goes with it,' Mr Kennedy told 

delegates.



He was equally unapologetic on ditching the ban on gays in 

the armed forces - an issue which has split Labour 

ministers.



'It's absurd, isn't it, that we no longer prosecute spies. 

But patriotic men and women, because of their sexuality, 

can't serve their country in uniform,' he told the 

conference. Mr Kennedy made a pledge to forge ever closer 

links with Labour to keep the Conservatives out of power - 

despite repeated warnings from the party's grassroots this 

week about the dangers of cosying up to the Government.



However, their leader insisted the links were a key element 

of 'adult politics' and added defiantly: 'I won't rule out 

further co-operation with Ministers.' Raising the prospect 

of a possible coalition with Labour, he confidently 

proclaimed that his party was within touching distance of 

banishing the Conservatives into permanent opposition and 

clinching a place in government.



In a clear echo of the Prime Minister's declaration that he 

wanted the next 100 years to be a century of social 

democracy, Mr Kennedy said: 'The 20th Century was too much a 

Conservative century. The 21st can be the century of liberal 

democracy.'



He underlined his conciliatory stance on Labour with an 

attack on Tory leader William Hague, branding his approach 

on Ulster as 'an irresponsible disgrace'.



Pointedly, his speech avoided any direct criticism of Tony 

Blair.



'Let me make one thing absolutely clear on behalf of this p 

arty. Loose talk at Westminster can literally cost lives in 

Northern Ireland,' declared Mr Kennedy 



'We are not going to play Westminster party politics with 

the Northern Ireland peace process. William Hague, grow up.'



Mr Kennedy, watched from the auditorium by his girlfriend, 

public relations adviser Sarah Gurling, 29, went on to 

criticise Labour for failing to take the lead in the single 

currency debate. 



He also reiterated his fears that Chancellor Gordon Brown 

will use his burgeoning public coffers to fund tax cuts 

rather than help schools and hospitals.



Labour had also failed to help the most disadvantaged, he 

added. 



Mr Kennedy said: 'If you're old or cold or hungry the 

Government is less New Labour, more new conservative.'



He reserved his most withering attack on Labour for Robin 

Cook's foreign policy. Referring to the sale of British Hawk 

trainer Jets to Indonesia and the Government's record in 

Sierra Leone, he declared: 'That's not an ethical foreign 

policy. That's a moral stench masquerading as a foreign 

policy.'



He also ridiculed Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's 

efforts to turn-around Britain's transport system.



'Poor John. He's got as much chance of transport integration 

as he's got of verbal integration,' he said.



Mr Kennedy underlined the party's calls for the Government 

to lead the battle to persuade the country to back British 

entry into the single currency.



'Europe is good for Britain. It's good for British business. 

That's good for British jobs and all that's good for the 

British people. It's patriotic to be pro-European,' he 

argued.



He dismissed opponents of the euro - including Baroness 

Thatcher, Lord Tebbit, Tony Benn and Ian Paisley - as a 

'perverse rainbow coalition of yesterday's men and women'.



He opened his speech with a tongue-in-cheek reference to his 

penchant for appearing on television shows.



After walking on to the stage, he said: 'Have I got news for 

you. I was nervous about this week - I thought you might 

call my bluff. I thought the paparazzi would be looking 

through the keyhole.'