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CHARLES KENNEDY TO VISIT WEST CORNWALL & SCILLY

The former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Rt. Hon Charles Kennedy MP, will make a public visit to the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives next week – Friday 6th July 2007 – when he will discuss the challenges of meeting the desperate need of local people for affordable housing and compare the relative treatment of West Cornwall and Scilly with his own Scottish constituency of Ross, Skye and Lochaber.


He has accepted the invitation to visit from the local MP, Andrew George. The two men have maintained their very good friendship through some difficult times at the top of the Party.

Mr Kennedy will be the guest speaker at the Constituency Party’s annual dinner at the Union Hotel in Chapel Street. The following day he and his wife Sarah will take a short private break on the Isles of Scilly with their two-year-old son, Donald.

Mr George said this week, “It is a privilege and an enormous pleasure to have Charles and his family taking the trouble to come all this way to visit the constituency.

“It is possible that many people either misunderstood or misinterpreted my role at the time Charles resigned as Leader of the Party 18 months ago.

“Needless to say, Charles remains enormously popular not only amongst Party supporters and members, but amongst a wider public.

“Charles has always had a tremendous charm and a quick wit which even his political opponents cannot fail to be impressed by. But it has always been his political judgement – on Iraq, the Butler Inquiry and against the privatisation of the NHS – which has shown his outstanding leadership credentials.

“What can I say … Anyone who meets and greets Charles these days doesn’t just talk about Charles Kennedy as a leader of the past. It would be wrong to leave such irrepressible talent on the back benches for too long,” said Mr George.