Menzies Campbell

Vocation

Family

British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete, also known as Ming Campbell. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from 1987 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007. For some years he was the Liberal Democrat Spokesman on foreign affairs: he strongly supported multilateral institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations but argued that the European Union must reform to become more democratic and the United Nations must develop new mechanisms for dealing with humanitarian crises. He has been critical of what he claims as the “disproportionate military action” employed by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza and in Lebanon, contending that Israel’s tactics exacerbate existing tensions and lead to human rights abuses. Though a supporter of Anglo-American cooperation, Campbell has argued that the Bush-Blair relationship was one-sided and that the Labour government pursued it at the expense of Britain's standing in other international institutions, particularly the EU and UN. Campbell held the British record for the 100 metres sprint from 1967–74, having run the distance in 10.2 seconds. He captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965-66. He is currently the Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. He was knighted in 2004 and created Baron Campbell of Pittenweem in 2015 Link to Wikipedia biography