Free Standing Down by Rosa Prince Page B

I went in 2007, that would give the party the opportunity to choose a new leader who would then have sufficient time to bed himself or herself into the job.
    Mr Campbell admits that the sniping over his age and pressure to stand down was ‘bruising’:
    Bruising as you know passes off and bruises disappear. It’s fractures that hurt. I was never fractured. One’s nearest and dearest take it worst.
    Also, there was a huge amount of pressure. My view now is you can’t lead a major political party now unless you live in London.
    Because what was I trying to do? I found myself at Stansted Airport on Saturday nights at seven o’clock, flying home only to leave at four o’clock the following day not even having had the chance to get to Fife. It is remorseless, the pressure. It really is unremitting. And if you’re the leader of a small party you’re expected to be an expert in tax, and welfare and defence and foreign policy and all of that. So it was a real trial of strength and stamina.
    Sir Menzies has put his final years in Parliament to good use, serving with distinction on the Intelligence and Security Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee. He now feels the time is right to retire – from the Commons if not from public life altogether, with a seat in the House of Lords almost certainly on the horizon.
    He says: ‘I’ll miss this, obviously. I gave up my sporting career, went on to something else. I gave up the law, came to this. I’ve always been very good at moving on. I’ve had three lives, really. Sport, law and politics. So I have no complaints.’
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Sir Menzies Campbell: CV
    Raised in Glasgow; attended Glasgow University; became an international athlete and barrister.
    1974: Unsuccessfully fights Greenock & Port Glasgow at February and October elections.
    1975: Becomes chairman of the Scottish Labour Party
    1979: Unsuccessfully fights East Fife
    1983: Unsuccessfully fights North East Fife
    1987: Elected MP for North East Fife; becomes arts spokesman; appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
    1988: Becomes defence spokesman
    1994: Becomes foreign affairs spokesman
    2003: Becomes deputy party leader; helps lead opposition to war in Iraq
    2006: Becomes Liberal Democrat leader
    2007: Stands down as Liberal Democrat leader
    2008: Joins Foreign Affairs Committee
    2010: Joins Intelligence and Security Committee
    2013: Announces he will stand down at the 2015 general election
    Sir Menzies Campbell is married to Elspeth and has one stepson, James.

DAVID WILLETTS
    David Willetts, fifty-nine, was Conservative MP for Havant (1992–2015).
    ‘I turned up on my first day at the Commons and they thought I was there to fix the heating.’
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How did you end up in Parliament?
    It really came from working for Margaret Thatcher. I thought: ‘I don’t want my entire career to be as a backroom boy, as an adviser. This is about winning an argument, helping, changing the way people think about problems facing the country.’
How did you feel on first becoming an MP?
    They asked me a peculiar question: ‘Have you come here to fix the central heating?’ Maybe I was there a bit early – I was a bit keen. They weren’t totally convinced I was a new MP. I tried to explain I was and they let me in.
Best of times?
    I definitely found being a minister second time around much more rewarding, partly because you were not seduced by the adrenaline rush of that day’s news story. When you come back in your fifties it’s easier to see things in proportion.
    So I guess I would have to say having a proper long stint in an area that you love; you can’t ask for much more in politics.
Worst of times?
    The long years in opposition did get incredibly frustrating. You want to pass on something better to the next generation, it’s a very human emotion, but you also feel an obligation to pass on the Conservatives and Conservatism in some sort of shape, and there were times when you thought: ‘We are so comprehensively