Cousins from across the pond?Drinking problem sinks Liberal leader
Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published January 8, 2006
LONDON, BRITAN -- The leader of Britain's opposition Liberal Democrats resigned under pressure from the party Saturday, days after he acknowledged battling a drinking problem.
Charles Kennedy had initially resisted stepping down despite calls for him to quit from nearly half of the party's lawmakers, saying the Liberal Democrats' rank and file still backed him.
He changed course Saturday, saying he was resigning immediately and would not run in the leadership elections he had announced Thursday.
"In all of this, the interests of our party have got to come first, that's where my personal, my political and my constitutional duty lies," Kennedy said at a news conference at Liberal Democrats' headquarters in London.
Kennedy, 46, acknowledged for first time Thursday that he had sought medical help for his drinking.
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