A REVOLT by senior Liberal Democrat MPs has left Charles Kennedy fighting to save his leadership of the party.

An attempt by Mr Kennedy to pre-empt a growing rebellion within his ranks at Westminster was rebuffed yesterday at a private meeting of his Shadow Cabinet.

Facing an unprecedented crisis of confidence, the Lib Dem leader tried to stamp on speculation by urging his most senior colleagues to stop briefing against him and rally behind him.

But his plea was rejected when he faced 30 minutes of criticism of his leadership style, with senior figures insisting that the issue could not be shelved any longer.

In a move that appeared to have been forced by Mr Kennedy’s critics, his Chief Whip, Andrew Stunnel, is to task members of his 23-strong Shadow Cabinet over whether Mr Kennedy retains their confidence and how tensions in links with the leadership can be settled.

The Lib Dem leader has tried to confront moves by a handful MPs to gather support for a demand that he quit, amid dismay at his performances since the election in May. He himself initiated a discussion on his leadership at the weekly meeting of his Shadow Cabinet, pointing to a series of unattributed media reports critical of him and telling them that such briefings must stop.

But many of his frontbench spokesmen present refused to let the matter rest. One told The Times: “The sentiment from the majority of the meeting was this issue could not be allowed to simply drag on. There needed to be a proper process of dialogue between the Shadow Cabinet and the leadership about how to resolve this.”

This meant “a discussion between Shadow Cabinet, the leadership and the whips. That was the overwhelming view of the meeting,” the source said.

The rebels had originally considered trying to get signatures from a majority of Shadow Cabinet members for a letter telling Mr Kennedy that he had lost their confidence. When this was reported to the leader’s office they instead discussed calling for the Chief Whip to speak to senior spokesmen one by one.

The next few days are now crucial for Mr Kennedy’s future. He must face Prime Minister’s Questions today and, later, a routine full meeting of his MPs. A critical factor will be their judgment of who would be most likely to replace him.

Mr Kennedy last night indicated that he had every intention of fighting on and would not tolerate opposition from within his ranks. For several weeks some senior Lib Dems have been voicing exasperation at his leadership after rumours began circulating over his unsure appearances at several engagements.

These included a speech at the London School of Economics on November 15 and an aborted trip by train to Newcastle two days later, although aides say he turned back because his infant son, Donald, was ill. His conduct at a Shadow Cabinet meeting and Prime Minister’s Questions around the same time also generated concern.

Similar concerns over his conduct surfaced in June and he promised to take better care of his health after missing the Budget through illness in 2004.

But in previous outbreaks of jitters most Lib Dems have wanted to see Mr Kennedy “firing on all cylinders” again. This is the first occasion on which several have talked of forcing his resignation. Another destabilising factor has been jockeying for position around the three likely candidates in any leadership election. Simon Hughes and Mark Oaten have been building up networks in the party in readiness, while many MPs on the right of the party are urging Sir Menzies Campbell to stand in any contest.

David Cameron’s election as leader of the Conservative Party has put further pressure on Mr Kennedy to give a clearer sense of strategic direction to the Lib Dems and map out how he intends to confront the challenge of a more centrist Tory party.

The Lib Dem leader initiated a wide-ranging policy review after the election, but there have been complaints that he has failed to stamp his own authority on the direction he wishes it to take on several policy areas.

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