Member of Parliament
Campbell became chairman of the Scottish Liberals in 1975, and was a candidate at various general elections between 1974 and 1983. After three failed attempts, he was finally elected as Member of Parliament, for North East Fife at the 1987 general election but has not lived in his constituency during his tenure as MP, although he owns a holiday home there.
He was made the Liberal Democrat chief spokesman on foreign affairs and defence in 1992. He considered standing as a candidate to replace Paddy Ashdown as party leader in the 1999 leadership election but ultimately decided against it. He later said that he regretted that decision "for about 10 minutes a day". He was also one of twelve candidates for the position of Speaker when Betty Boothroyd stood down in 2000, but he lost out to Michael Martin.
Campbell was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, in 2002; he underwent a course of intensive chemotherapy before going on to make a full recovery.
Campbell replaced Alan Beith as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in February 2003 and on occasion acted as stand-in Leader of the party. He took over in the general election campaign for three days from 12 April 2005 when Charles Kennedy took paternity leave.
Read more about this topic: Menzies Campbell
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