Charles Kennedy gets moving Have I Got News For You tribute

The programme has been praised for its sensitive approach to remember the late politician

Have I Got News for You has paid tribute to sometime panelist Charles Kennedy (BBC)

The usually-biting satirical programme Have I Got News for You (HIGNFY) paid a touching tribute to late Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, just days after he passed away.

Politicians of all stripes have praised Kennedy for his humour and dedication to achieving social justice, after he died suddenly at his home in Fort William on Monday.

The BBC panel show chose to remember its sometime panelist and presenter by running clips of one of his first and last appearances.

As the show came to a close and guest host Jack Dee read out the panel’s final scores, he told viewers: “of course the scores have always been hotly contested on this show, here’s a friend of the show who always had the right attitude even when he hadn’t won.”

The programme then cut to a vintage clip of HIGNFY in which a fresh-faced Kennedy used the scores to joke about how the Liberal Democrats were causing a “shift” in politics, and admitted he would have “been very happy” to come second in an election.

The next clip showed a more recent clip of the Lib Dem, in which former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson asks him about Government plans to imprison bankers.

Kennedy replies: "It’s a bit stupid for David Cameron to suggest this, he hasn’t got anywhere to put them for a start and probably most of them are voting Tory, aren’t they Jeremy?"

When Clarkson mocks Kennedy’s accent and replies, “I don’t know I can’t understand Scottish,” Kennedy showcases his wit and humour by hitting back: “Don’t worry Jeremy, most people in Scotland can’t understand voting Tory either”.

Fans of the programme praised its warm approach to remembering Kennedy.

The results of the post-mortem examination realised on Friday revealed Kennedy had suffered a “major haemorrhage” as the result of his long fight with a drinking problem.