AN autobiography of Sir Menzies Campbell, the embattled leader of the Liberal Democrats, has been shelved two months before it was due to be published.

The official reason for scrapping the publication was that Campbell was “too busy” to co-operate with its ghost writer, but party insiders believe it may contain damaging details of his role in the downfall of Charles Kennedy, his predecessor. Kennedy resigned earlier this year after admitting that he was suffering from alcoholism. Many Lib Dems believed he was the victim of a coup, orchestrated by Campbell.

His successor’s short tenure has failed to capture the imagination of the party. Campbell has been criticised for lack of inspiration, in particular his poor performances at prime minister’s questions.

The autobiography, ghosted by Mark Douglas-Home, was due to be published ahead of the Lib Dem conference at Brighton in September. Last week it was dropped quietly with no official announcement and its publication date has been put back to autumn 2009. A separate biography of Kennedy by Greg Hurst, the Times journalist, is due out next month.

“Mark had completed the autobiography and it was very well received by the publishers but the deal was that Menzies had the final say and, on reading the completed manuscript, it was quite clear that, on the eve of the party conference, it was going to be potentially very embarrassing,” said one source.

“It would have opened up divisions when Menzies wants to calm things down.”

An ally of Campbell’s said: “Our conference is difficult enough from a news management point of view at the best of times because of the degree of internal party democracy we have. We’ve already got the Kennedy biography to contend with. Bringing out another book that raked over all the old coals would not have been particularly helpful.”

A Lib Dem spokesman said the book had been shelved because Campbell didn’t have enough time to give it his proper attention, adding: “He managed to complete a couple of chapters before Christmas then everything changed when he became leader.”

Bob McDevitt of Hodder, the book’s publisher, said he did not know whether it included Campbell’s role in Kennedy’s downfall but he said the book would benefit from being able to draw on Campbell’s experience as leader.

In an interview in today’s Sunday Times Campbell concedes that the “theatre” of the Commons does not come naturally to him.

“I’m not a thespian. If people wanted someone theatrical they could have voted for it, though I’m not sure Simon Hughes or Chris Huhne are particularly theatrical,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned prime minister’s questions are a work in progress and progress is being made.”

Campbell recently hired Gavin Grant, an expert in “reputation management”, to counter his poor image but insisted he was not a caretaker leader.

Douglas-Home could not be contacted for comment.

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