By Chris Jones BBC News Profiles Unit

Charles Kennedy: Laid-back leader

The Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, always had a trump card up his sleeve which neither Tony Blair nor Michael Howard could hope to match.

As voters flag in the final weeks of the campaign, reeling from the claims and counter claims of the parties, the Kennedy household has injected new life, literally, into the hustings.

The arrival of baby Donald has provided priceless photo opportunities, as the hearts of a cynical nation are melted by the sight of the proud father and his offspring, if only temporarily.

Terror bill 'cock-up'

Baby's arrival should have brought a painful sacrifice for Charles Kennedy. He promised to give up smoking before the birth, saying his wife, Sarah, had described it as "non-negotiable". He hasn't kept that pledge, although he says he has "cut down considerably" and has to go outside to indulge the "habit".

He took 48 hours paternity leave before unveiling the Lib Dems manifesto. Before the birth he told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that the baby would be his "priority number one," a declaration that raised more questions for some about his commitment to the cause.

Some Lib Dems were said to have been appalled at his failure to mobilise the party's MPs for the Commons vote on control orders for terrorist suspects, when the government's majority was cut to 14.

With heavily-pregnant wife Sarah

The party leader was among the 17 Lib Dem MPs absent from the chamber, forcing party election strategist, Lord Rennard, to admit there had been a "cock-up".

Kennedy's individual, laid-back style has always invited criticism. Concern reached a peak after his speech to the party's spring conference last year, when, mopping his brow, he was pale and sweating.

It fuelled rumours about his drinking habits, although Kennedy said he had been suffering from a stomach bug.

Unruffled

He once answered critics of his relaxed style by saying: "Politics is much too serious to be taken too seriously; equally, there are many aspects of it so laughable as to be lamentable."

He earned the nickname Chatshow Charlie after his appearances on television and radio shows including "Have I Got News For You" and, in his bachelor days, was keen to indulge in some late-night jazz at Ronnie Scott's club in London.

Charles Kennedy is no fiery Scot and stays unruffled under fire, whether from within his own party or from radio and television interviewers.

Now entitled to pose two questions during Prime Minister's Question Time, he has doggedly pursued the truth about the decision to go to war in Iraq in measured rather than hectoring tones.

Kennedy has been dubbed Chatshow Charlie

But while the Lib Dems will be hoping that Iraq might bring them votes from a significant number of Labour supporters, Kennedy's troops will concentrate more of their efforts on policies such as replacing council tax with a local income tax, paying pensioners more and abolishing tuition fees.

Perhaps he owes his calmness partly to the stress-free environment in which he was raised in the Scottish Highlands, in a home full of music.

And the scenery in the nearly 3,000 square miles of his constituency of Ross, Skye and Inverness West, can be inspirational.

Now 44, Charles Kennedy is sometimes unfavourably compared with his predecessor, the more combative Paddy Ashdown, but he determined from the start to depend on his own style.

Articulate, witty, but reputedly still revealing an occasional shyness, he has never been a rabble-rouser. According to Peter Oborne, writing in The Spectator, Kennedy leads "the only dynamic force in British mainstream politics."

As the other parties gird their loins, the laid-back Charles Kennedy may have conceived a master-stroke, stepping off the battle bus for baby-bonding - and, in the process, attracting more votes for his party.