Kennedy, who led the Lib Dems in two elections, described as ‘one of the most gifted politicians of his generation’ after his death at home in Fort William

The political world has been shocked by the sudden death of the former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy at the age of 55.

Kennedy, who enjoyed an easy connection with voters and took his party to unprecedented electoral success, died at his home in Fort William on Monday, his family announced.

He had lost his Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency to the Scottish National party in last month’s general election. He stood down as Lib Dem leader in 2006 after disclosing he was an alcoholic.

A statement released on behalf of his family said: “It is with great sadness and an enormous sense of shock that we announce the death of Charles Kennedy. Charles died at home in Fort William yesterday. He was 55. We are obviously devastated at the loss.

“Charles was a fine man, a talented politician and a loving father to his young son. We ask therefore that the privacy of his family is respected in the coming days. There will be a postmortem and we will issue a further statement when funeral arrangements are made.”

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “Police officers attended an address at Fort William on Monday 1 June to reports of the sudden death of a 55-year-old man. Police were notified by ambulance service personnel. There are no suspicious circumstances and our report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

Kennedy’s body was found by his partner, Carole Macdonald, the widow of his old friend Murdo Macdonald, who died from cancer in 2007.

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former director of communications who became good friends with Kennedy, tweeted: “To media inquiries to family, can confirm Charles was found by good friend Carole Macdonald, widow of Charles’ lifelong best friend Murdo. Murdo was godfather to Charles’ son Donald. Family would appreciate that their earlier appeal re privacy applies to Carole and family too.”

A family friend said Kennedy had been very careful to keep the couple’s relationship private and keen to protect Macdonald from the challenges and intrusions of public life. Macdonald helped Kennedy during his election campaign, driving him to and from events.

Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) Murdo was godfather to Charles' son Donald. Family would appreciate that their earlier appeal re privacy applies to Carole and family too

On his blog earlier in the day, Campbell said he had been told the news of Kennedy’s death by a friend who had found the body.

Macdonald and Kennedy’s friendship dated back to their days running the Glasgow University students’ union in the early 1980s.

Kennedy’s father, Ian, died in early April aged 88 after suffering repeated falls last year. Kennedy had been his main carer and his death caused him to suspend election campaigning.

In 1983, Kennedy became the youngest sitting MP when he was elected to the constituency of Ross, Cromarty and Skye for the Social Democratic party at the age of 23 in the first general election the SDP fought in alliance with the Liberals.

He was elected leader of the alliance’s successor party, the Liberal Democrats, in 1999, and led the party to its greatest electoral success, winning 62 seats in the 2005 election. But he was pushed out as party leader in 2006 after he confirmed that he had received treatment for alcoholism.

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem former deputy prime minister, led the tributes. “Charles’s untimely death robs Britain of one of the most gifted politicians of his generation,” he said. “He was one of the most gentle and unflappable politicians I have ever known, yet he was immensely courageous, too, not least when he spoke for the country against the invasion of Iraq.”

Paddy Ashdown, Kennedy’s predecessor as Lib Dem leader, tweeted: “Charles Kennedy. In a political age not overburdened with gaiety and good sense, he brought us wit, charm, judgment, principle and decency.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg pays tribute to his predecessor, Charles Kennedy

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and SNP leader, said: “Sad beyond words to hear the news about Charlie Kennedy. A lovely man and one of the most talented politicians of his time. Gone too soon.”

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Sturgeon began a speech on the EU in Brussels with a warm personal tribute to Kennedy, whom she described as “one of the most talented politicians of his generation”. She remembered “skiving off” with Kennedy during a trip to Australia in the mid-90s to watch the film Trainspotting.

Alex Salmond, the former first minister, tweeted: “Charles Kennedy was by far the most generous person I have ever met in politics. Sad loss of a great politician and, above all, a great man.”

David Cameron tweeted: “I’m deeply saddened by the death of Charles Kennedy. He was a talented politician who has died too young. My thoughts are with his family.”

Kennedy was nicknamed “Chat Show Charlie” in light of his easy manner on television and once chaired an edition of Have I Got News for You. But Kennedy was also a deeply serious politician who placed the fight for social justice and the battle to keep the UK in the EU at the heart of his politics.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Charles Kennedy presents Have I Got News For You in 2002

He entered parliament at the same time as Tony Blair, with whom he shared a love of David Bowie’s music, and quickly made a mark in the relatively small contingent of Alliance MPs. In the mid-90s, he felt deeply uncomfortable with Ashdown’s closeness to New Labour and he loosened the ties when he succeeded Ashdown as Lib Dem leader in 1999.

He eventually abandoned Ashdown’s joint consultative committee, which saw Lib Dem MPs sit round the cabinet table with Labour ministers after Blair aborted plans to form a coalition with Ashdown in the face of objections from John Prescott.

Kennedy went to on to become the most senior opponent at Westminster of the Iraq war as he forged a position to the left of New Labour. In his speech in the Iraq debate in March 2003, in which MPs approved military action, Kennedy said: “Before launching an almighty assault upon Iraq, is it not better to pursue the course of disarmament on the ground in the presence of weapons inspectors? No matter how sophisticated modern technology, even compared with at the time of the last Gulf war, is it not more precise to have weapons dismantled in the presence of inspectors rather than so-called precision bombing trying to take them out?”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Charles Kennedy explains his opposition to the Iraq war at a Stop the War rally in Hyde Park in February 2003

Prescott said in his tribute that Kennedy had been vindicated on Iraq. The former deputy prime minister tweeted: “So sad to hear of Charles Kennedy’s passing. He proved to be right on Iraq. History will be as kind to him as he was to others. A great loss.”

Kennedy’s opposition to the Iraq war helped the Lib Dems increase their number of MPs by 10 to 62 in the 2005 general election.

But Kennedy’s leadership was dogged by ill health and he stood down in 2006. Kennedy was briefly succeeded by Sir Menzies Campbell before Clegg assumed the leadership in 2007.

Kennedy was the most prominent politician since the former Labour deputy prime minister George Brown in the 1960s to have to deal with a drink problem in public. Unlike Brown, Kennedy won praise for the dignified way in which he dealt with his difficulties.

In a statement at the time, Kennedy said: “Over the past 18 months, I’ve been coming to terms with, and seeking to cope with, a drink problem. I’ve come to learn through that process that any drink problem is a serious problem indeed.”

Clegg followed a different political path, the “Orange Book” approach, as he moved the Lib Dems to the centre ground with ambitions of becoming a party of government. Clegg fulfilled this ambition when he formed a coalition with the Tories in 2010 – to the deep shock of Kennedy, whose political hero Roy Jenkins had hoped to realign the centre-left by forging links between the Lib Dems and Labour.

Kennedy voted against forming the coalition. In an Observer article explaining his decision, Kennedy wrote: “With uncharacteristic understatement, Paddy Ashdown described last week’s events as ‘a rather unexpected moment’. Certainly, they drive a strategic coach and horses through the long-nurtured ‘realignment of the centre-left’ to which leaders in the Liberal tradition, this one included, have all subscribed since the Jo Grimond era. It is hardly surprising that, for some of us at least, our political compass currently feels confused. And that really encapsulates the reasons why I felt personally unable to vote for this outcome when it was presented to Liberal Democrat parliamentarians.”

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In earlier times, Kennedy explained how the Lib Dems took a different approach to the other parties. He said: “The Liberal Democrats are nobody’s poodles. But we are not rottweilers either. We don’t savage on command. That is the old politics.”

Campbell’s tribute was one of the most moving. He wrote of how he had forged a strong friendship with Kennedy that was “built on a shared enemy, and that is alcohol”.

Campbell wrote: “That Charles struggled with alcohol is no secret to people in Westminster, or in the Highlands constituency he served so well, for so long, until the SNP tide swept away all but one Scottish Lib Dem at the election last month.

“Perhaps another day, if his family are happy with this, I will write in more detail about the discussions we had over the past few years, and what it was like for someone in the public eye facing the demon drink. It was a part of who he was, and the life he had; the struggles came and went, and went and came, but the great qualities that made Charles who and what he was were always there.”

Kennedy had one son, who is aged 10, with Sarah Gurling. They divorced in 2010.