16:18

Politicians from all wings of the political spectrum have united to pay tribute to Charles Kennedy following the news that the former Lib Dem leader died at his home at Fort William in Scotland yesterday. He was 55. Colleagues and opponents alike have expressed deep sadness at the news, and their tributes have stressed Kennedy’s decency, his good nature, his remarkable gifts as a communicator, his popularity, the courage (and, in hindsight, wisdom) of his opposition to the war against Iraq and that fact that under his leadership in 2005 the Lib Dems achieved their best general election result since the party was formed in the late 1980s. Dozens of tributes are here on this blog, but you can also find a round-up here.

The cause of Kennedy’s death has not been announced, although Kennedy’s struggle with alcoholism was well-known and led to his resignation as Lib Dem party leader nine years ago. But the police have said there were no suspicious circumstances. There are conflicting accounts of Kennedy’s mood following his defeat in the general election. Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader, told Sky earlier that this was a “very dark time” for Kennedy. (Salmond has also been strongly criticised by some commentators for saying Kennedy was not fully committed to the Better Together campaign last year.) But others have said Kennedy was in good form after the election (see 10.03pm and 2.03pm) and Kennedy himself was making plans for his political future (see 9.02am and 1.30pm.)



That’s all from me for today.

My colleague Jamie Grierson will be writing the politics blog tomorrow because I’ve got to be away for family reasons.

Thanks for the comments.