As an Olympic athlete and formerly the fastest man in Britain, Sir Menzies Campbell believed in the sprint, not the marathon. As leader of the Liberal Democrats for just over 19 months, some will say he did not go the distance in his political career.
As an Olympic athlete and formerly the fastest man in Britain, Sir Menzies Campbell believed in the sprint, not the marathon. As leader of the Liberal Democrats for just over 19 months, some will say he did not go the distance in his political career.
The Glasgow-born former barrister who qualified for the 200m in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and famously broke the UK 100m record in 1967, was elected leader on March 2, 2006, following the resignation of Charles Kennedy. The 66-year-old has been North-East Fife's MP for 18 years.
The Hillhead High School and University of Glasgow educated scholar, known as Ming, was the natural successor to Mr Kennedy, having been his deputy for three years and generally regarded as a reliable elder statesman of the party.
It was at university that his talent for the sprint was unearthed and his track record, some would say, was as impressive as his political one to come.
His expedition to the Tokyo Games resulted in second-round elimination in the 200m. But he bounced back by helping Great Britain reach the sprint relay final.
Backed by a graduate scholarship to Stanford, California, studying international law, he was able to develop his running further and became proud captain of the Scotland team at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.
The 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 dubbed "the fastest white man on the planet" when running the 100m in 10.12secs in 1967.
It was that fitness that doctors said helped him to battle what was to be the biggest fight of his life, cancer.
He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma five years ago and after a course of intensive chemotherapy went on to make a full recovery.
The resident of Edinburgh recognises that if it had not been for the support of his wife, Elspeth, whom he married in June, 1970, he would never have survived.
He was introduced to the former Lady Suttie by the late Sir Nicholas Fairbairn, the Conservative MP and former Solicitor-General for Scotland. Ming had been his junior in a criminal trial.
Though asked to contest Greenock at the General Election in June 1970, Ming declined because the date clashed with his marriage to Elspeth, who is the daughter of Major General Roy Urquhart, the Arnhem hero who was portrayed by Sean Connery in the film A Bridge Too Far.
His foray into politics came after a legal career which saw him in 1968 be admitted to the Faculty of Advocates. He was made a QC in 1982.
While he became chairman of the Scottish Liberals in 1975, he made three failed attempts as a grass-roots activist to become an MP between 1974 and 1983 before finally being elected as member of parliament for North-East Fife in 1987.
Knighted in 2004, he has been on the LibDem front bench for nearly a decade and is respected by all parties for his insight on foreign affairs.
