page_title: Tim Farron
section_title: 2010–2015
hierarchical_section_title: Tim Farron / Political career / 2010–2015
caption_attribution_description: English: Tim Farron at a Liberal Democrat event.
context_page_description: Timothy James Farron is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 until 2017. He has been Member of Parliament for Westmorland and Lonsdale since 2005.
  Farron was the President of the Liberal Democrats from January 2011 to December 2014. Since 7 February 2019 he has been the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government, serving alongside Housing Spokesperson The Lord Shipley. In August 2019, new Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson appointed Farron Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government, Work and Pensions, Housing and Planning and the Northern Powerhouse.
context_section_description: In the 2010 general election, Farron achieved an 11.1% swing from the Conservatives, winning by a majority of 12,264 in his historically Conservative seat. This result was against the run of the rest of the party, making Westmorland and Lonsdale one of the few Liberal Democrat strongholds.
  On 27 May 2010, Farron stood for the position of Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, made vacant by the resignation of Vince Cable. On 9 June, Farron lost the competition to the former party President, Simon Hughes. Hughes won by 20 votes; having had 38 nominations from the parliamentary party, compared to Farron's 18.
  On 16 September 2010, Farron stood for the position of President of the Liberal Democrats following Baroness Scott's decision not to seek re-election. He won the election with 53% of the vote, beating fellow candidate Susan Kramer on 47%.
  In March 2012, Farron was one of three MPs who signed a letter sent to the Advertising Standards Authority, criticising their recent decision to stop the Christian group "Healing on the Streets of Bath" from making explicit claims that prayer can heal. The letter called for the ASA to provide indisputable scientific evidence that faith healing did not work; Farron subsequently admitted that the letter was not "well-worded" and that he should not have signed it "as it was written".
  Farron was one of only eight Liberal Democrats elected nationwide at the 2015 general election. He was considered a favourite to succeed Nick Clegg as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
caption: Farron the day before the 2017 General Election
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