Charles Kennedy
Overview
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Ross, Skye and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)
Ross, Skye and Lochaber is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
constituency.
In the 1983 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
he stood for the Ross, Cromarty & Skye constituency
Ross, Cromarty and Skye (UK Parliament constituency)
Ross, Cromarty and Skye was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1997. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....
, then held by the Conservative MP and Minister, Hamish Gray
Hamish Gray, Baron Gray of Contin
James Hector Northey Gray, Baron Gray of Contin, PC, DL, , known as Hamish Gray, was a Scottish politician and life peer....
. In a shock result, Kennedy was elected for the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
(SDP): at 23, he became the youngest MP in the House of Commons.