THE ousting of Charles Kennedy was reluctantly triggered by one of his closest protégés and not by “Ming the Merciless” — his successor, Sir Menzies Campbell.

A book about the downfall of the Liberal Democrat leader will challenge the received wisdom that Campbell plotted against him and will instead point the finger at Sarah Teather, once Westminster’s youngest MP.

The book is expected to suggest that the 4ft 10in MP, who wears towering red stilettos to deliver speeches, deserted Kennedy as he battled desperately to save his job after his drink problem was exposed.

It will tell how, along with Ed Davey, one of the party’s other “young Turks”, Teather, the MP for Brent East, led the charge against her boss last January, issuing him with a public ultimatum to resign, signed by a number of Liberal Democrat MPs.

As Kennedy insisted that he would fight on, Teather and Davey, both tipped as future leaders of the party, destroyed his hopes of staying in the job by publicly declaring that they would not serve as frontbenchers under his leadership.

Senior party insiders have told the book’s author, Greg Hurst, a journalist with The Times, that along with other close friends of Kennedy the pair went through “agonies” over how to handle their boss’s alcoholism, loyally helping to cover up his drink problem for months.

They say that any criticism of Teather’s and Davey’s actions must be tempered by a recognition that the young MPs played their role in Kennedy’s downfall only after lengthy soul-searching, with the events leading up to Kennedy’s departure from office causing them “immense personal pain”.

The book, the first extracts of which are expected to be published this week, will provide a graphic account of the death throes of Kennedy’s leadership after his former press secretary, Daisy McAndrew — dubbed the blonde assassin — revealed his drinking problem on television. A string of senior Liberal Democrats have provided material for the book, which is expected to reveal embarrassing details of Kennedy’s long battle with alcoholism.

They are expected to tell how he was often found slumped drunk at his desk in the Commons at 10am. In one of his darkest hours he was too inebriated to appear at a keynote budget speech and remained locked in his office.

Senior Liberal Democrats publicly excused his absence by claiming that he had a stomach bug.

During lengthy interviews with Hurst, party insiders have told how they became exhausted and dispirited by repeatedly “covering up” for him, on some occasions lying to keep journalists off the scent.

On one occasion Kennedy was forced to abandon an official visit to the northeast of England after he had already begun the train journey because he was not in a fit state for the engagement.

There has been widespread speculation that Campbell, the current Liberal Democrat leader, will be portrayed as a traitor who helped to engineer Kennedy’s downfall in an attempt to secure the top job himself.

Some critics of Campbell claim that he had a secret health check, just weeks before Kennedy’s alcohol problem was exposed, to confirm that he was fit to run as leader.

However, insiders say that it is not Campbell but the party’s bright young MPs who will be most negatively portrayed in the book.

At the time of Kennedy’s downfall, Teather was serving as local government spokesman, while Davey was education spokesman.

After entering parliament with a by-election victory as an “unknown”, Teather was rapidly promoted by Kennedy, who regularly gave her high-profile roles in press conferences.

Norman Lamb, then the party’s trade and industry spokesman and one of Kennedy’s closest aides, and David Laws, then shadow to the chief secretary to the Treasury, are also expected to be named as having played a key role in his downfall.

All signed a letter, backed by 25 of 62 Lib Dem MPs, calling on Kennedy to resign. Significantly, Campbell did not put his name to the letter.

One senior Liberal Democrat said: “The book doesn’t pull any punches. Davey will be painted in an unflattering light, as will Lamb. Yet Lamb is a thoroughly decent bloke, who for a long time carried much of the burden of knowing about Charles’s problem on his shoulders. He was the one who would find him the worse for wear in his office at 10am.”

Speaking about Teather, another Liberal Democrat close to Kennedy said: “The younger ones will be fingered, but they went through such agonies over this. It was very hard for them, coming up against such a difficult situation. They tried hard to protect Kennedy, but in the end it was unsustainable.”

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