Ex-Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik attacks party over Charles Kennedy

Mr Opik, who represented Montgomeryshire and knew Mr Kennedy well, said tributes to the former MP, who died last week, stood in stark contrast to the way the party ousted him over his alcoholism.

He criticised Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister who said: "

Everyone felt it was just so tragic to see someone with such huge gifts struggle, as many people do, with the demons that clearly beset him and the problems that he acknowledged that he had with alcohol."

His battles with the disease were well chronicled and in vain.

The former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has been typically outspoken in his criticism of his former colleagues. His suggestion is that they could and should have done more to save Mr Kennedy.

Some people may find Mr Opik's comments unpalatable. During a period of mourning, there is little that people want to hear less than the sound of squabbles and bickering.

But while some might find Mr Opik's comments a little too forthright, they undoubtedly have a ring of truth about them. Mr Kennedy had too much on his plate in the hothouse that is Westminster and while a few friends and allies tried to help, more could and should have been done to support him.

Mr Kennedy's death is a loss to our nation. It must be hoped that his passing serves to highlight the simple fact that we need to do more to prevent and treat alcoholism.

Mr Opik said Mr Clegg was one of 25 MPs who signed an open letter in 2006 telling Mr Kennedy they were "no longer" willing to serve under his leadership because of his "serious medical condition".

"If the 'serious medical condition' referred to had been, say, motor neurone disease or cancer, would anyone have considered this letter sensitive, fair or even acceptable? I think not," said Mr Opik.

"It would have been seen as out of order to make a public statement about a condition nobody chooses and which many struggle with all their lives. Alcoholism is not a choice, any more than other medical conditions are a choice. Yet in the UK alcohol dependency problems are treated as a taboo – or even as a joke. To issue a public statement of the type handed to Kennedy through the national papers is utterly at odds with any idea of altering public perceptions about a profoundly difficult health problem."

He added: "Charles had built the Lib Dems to their highest Parliamentary standing in the party's history, with 62 MPs on the green benches. His alcohol problem was used as a brutal tool to depose him."

Mr Opik suggested Mr Kennedy could have continued as party leader with support. "Charles may or may not have overcome his alcohol dependency issues. Yet a sympathetic arrangement with, say, a party deputy leader ready to stand in on those days when Charles's condition incapacitated him could have addressed the situation.

"It would have enabled Kennedy to lead with his principled, liberal and very human style, so loved by the public. In addition, it would also have helped to de-stigmatise one of Britain's key mental health issues, winning respect from millions in desperate need of a way to share their distress about alcoholism."

He added: "I have no doubt the Liberal Democrats would have done better with Kennedy, even given his alcohol issues, than it did with Clegg. Now the party lies in ruins, while mourning the passing of a man who died of a broken political heart."