CHARLES KENNEDY turned down overtures to serve in a senior role in Sir Menzies Campbell’s frontbench team and has ruled out a return to frontline politics until after the next general election.

Mr Kennedy, whose inner circle blame Sir Menzies and his supporters for his enforced resignation as leader in January, will instead concentrate on writing and is giving consideration to television projects. Several of his friends and former advisers backed Chris Huhne in the Liberal Democrat leadership election, leading to speculation that Mr Kennedy himself wanted Mr Huhne to win.

Lord Newby, who was chief of staff to Mr Kennedy throughout his leadership, told The Times: “He does not want to do anything at this stage, or in this Parliament. He has not ruled out anything beyond that.”

Mr Kennedy, who sat in the front row for Thursday’s declaration of the leadership ballot, is staying away from the Lib Dem spring conference in Harrogate under a mutual agreement that the media focus should be on Sir Menzies as new leader. Sir Menzies is expected to make a series of appointments to his leader’s office early next week and complete a reshuffle of senior spokesmen by the end of the week.

David Laws, the party’s works and pensions spokesman, will use his first big conference speech today to call for an end to rules allowing lone parents to claim income support until their youngest child is 16, perhaps lowering the cut-off point to the time when children reach secondary school. His remarks are an indication that he wants to keep his current role in the reshuffle.

Times Recommends

• Times Christmas appeal: Letter from the Editor
• Conferences — what a waste of money
• Schools supremo learns a painful lesson