Year in review: January

For once it was the Liberal Democrats generating the most newspaper column inches as the year began.

 

Unfortunately for the publicity-hungry party it was for all the wrong reasons.

 

The New Year began badly for embattled Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy and it was downhill from there.

 

Party president Simon Hughes called for Kennedy to improve his performance telling him he had to "deliver".

 

Within days what Kennedy delivered was the admission that he had a drink problem, saying he intended to remain in post all the same.

 

Commentators suggested that his days in the role were numbered - in the event it was more like hours.

 

Having asked party managers to trigger an immediate leadership election to end speculation about his future, his position quickly became untenable.

 

When it was clear that support for him in the parliamentary party had collapsed, he was forced to resign.

 

Many in the wider party were angered by the seemingly brutal manner of the coup.

 

The party's home affairs spokesman announced his ill-fated candidacy with the backing of Lembit Opik and, as it transpired, hardly anybody else.

 

Oaten soon left the race before the News of World exposed his relationships with rent boys, forcing him to resign his front bench position.

 

And it wasn't the end for scandal amongst potential leaders of the Lib Dems as Simon Hughes was forced to admit to having gay affairs after years of denials.

 

Meanwhile one leader who stood to gain from the Lib Dems' troubles was David Cameron.

 

The Conservative chief began the year continuing his bid to shift his party into the middle ground with a speech claiming the Tories were the defenders of the NHS.

 

The Labour leader had other thoughts on his mind and triggered a year of further fighting between the Blair and Brown camps by indicating in a Sun interview that he intended to remain in Downing Street for "years".

 

One of the party's previously rising stars - education secretary Ruth Kelly - was hit with a scandal over sex offenders gaining permission to work in schools.

 

Kelly's troubles were added to by poor truancy figures and criticism from Lord Kinnock, among many others, over Labour's education white paper. It was to prove the beginning of the end of her period in charge of the department.

 

January was also the month during which former sports minister Tony Banks died of a stroke while on holiday in Florida. Blair led the tributes to the charismatic politician.