Tim Farron profile: who is the new Liberal Democrat leader ? | Politics | The Guardian Tim Farron Tim Farron profile: who is the new Liberal Democrat leader ? Farron was once described as a ‘sanctimonious, god-bothering, treacherous little shit’ but backers say he is the right man to give the party a fresh start Tim Farron’s refusal to toe the party line did not always win him friends. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Thursday 16 July 2015 11.38 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 09.26 EDT Close This article is 1 year old The announcement that Tim Farron is to replace Nick Clegg as the leader of the Liberal Democrats has surprised very few. The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, one of just eight Liberal Democrats to keep their seats in May’s general election, was the bookies’ favourite to win from the moment he announced he was standing against Norman Lamb, the MP for North Norfolk, a week after the general election .

Farron ran for parliament three times – including in North West Durham in 1992 , where Theresa May was the Conservative candidate – before finally winning his seat in 2005, overturning decades of Conservative rule in his constituency. Farron supported Nick Clegg’s leadership campaign in 2007, but in coalition he voted against some of the coalition’s most unpopular policies, including the bedroom tax and tuition fees. He insists that he is fiercely proud of his party’s record in government, but his refusal to toe the party line did not always win him friends. “Which bit of the sanctimonious, god-bothering, treacherous little shit is there not to like?” said one senior party figure after the bedroom tax vote. During the party’s spring conference in March, Farron told journalists that the decision to go into coalition could have damaged the party for a generation. Paddy Ashdown, the former party leader, responded by saying that while Farron was a friend, “his well-known ambition would be better served with a little more patience and a little more judgment”.

He added: “Judgment is not his strong suit.” His supporters argued that Farron was the right candidate to give the party a fresh start and to take on the difficult task of getting them noticed again. “With him as leader we can show that we are a compassionate, tolerant, internationalist, reformist party that looks beyond sectional interest to the greater good,” read a statement from the leaders of the Welsh and Scottish Liberal Democrats , who counted among his backers. Farron was passed over for a government job in the coalition, but ran for the position of deputy leader of the party after the election in May 2010, losing out to Simon Hughes, who got 68% of the vote. Undeterred, Farron announced he would be standing against former MP Susan Kramer to be the party’s president in September the same year, a contest he won with 53% of the vote. Farron was born in Preston, Lancashire, in 1970. His political awakening came when he watched Cathy Come Home at the age of 14 and was prompted to join Shelter and then the Liberal party. He went to local state schools before going on to study politics at Newcastle University.

While a student, Farron was elected to the National Union of Students’ executive and he was the first Liberal Democrat to be made president of the Newcastle University union society. He worked as an administrator at Lancaster University before winning his seat in parliament in 2005. Farron is a committed Christian, having found God when he was 18, though he admits to having lapsed somewhat in his 20s. “I don’t like labels,” he told the Guardian last month . “I just count myself as a Christian, and my faith is in Jesus Christ, I put my trust in him. I count him as my lord and saviour, and I’m in no way ashamed of that.” Farron is married to Rosemary Cantley and the couple live in Milnthorpe in his constituency with their four children – two daughters and two sons. Tim Farron: the Christian Lefty on course to be elected Liberal Democrat leader - Telegraph Tim Farron: the Christian Lefty on course to be elected Liberal Democrat leader As Lib Dem leadership contest concludes, the full story of front-runner Tim Farron Will Tim Farron be elected Liberal Democrat leader?

Photo: GETTY By Rosa Prince , Assistant Political Editor 10:44AM BST 16 Jul 2015 Follow Tim Farron was enjoying a convivial Chinese meal with a fellow delegate at Liberal Democrat conference two years ago when the fortune cookies arrived. Cracking his open, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale read aloud: “You will rule the world”. Today he stands on the brink of his party’s leadership; the Liberal Democrats’ disaster at the polls in May meaning all the credible candidates bar his only remaining competitor, Norman Lamb , taken out of the race. Mr Farron has been spoken of as a future leader almost since his election to parliament for the Lake District seat in 2005. Left out of government by Nick Clegg when the Coalition was formed in 2010, he now says wistfully that he would have liked to have been a minister. Instead, he stood successfully for his party’s presidency, which ultimately proved the smarter move on his journey towards achieving his aim of becoming his party’s leader. The role meant he could travel the country meeting members who today form the Liberal Democrat electorate.

Denied a ministerial brief, h e was also free to vote against some of the Government’s more unpopular measures. Other votes were less popular with the membership: as a committed Christian his failure to give his whole-hearted support to marriage equality alarms many in his right-on party. He is on the record as saying that every abortion is a “tragedy”. But if the bookies and pollsters are correct, his evangelical moves should not stand in the way of his ambitions. So who is Tim Farron? So who is Tim Farron, the 45-year-old, elfin-faced, ever-youthful MP whose prefered choice of footwear is Doc Martins rather than Liberal Democrat sandals? What does he believe in, and how did he become favourite for his party’s leadership? Timothy James Farron was born on May 26 1970 in Preston, Lancashire. His father, a construction manager, left home when he was five and he was raised by his mother as a single parent. Fiercely protective of her, he would later become emotional as he criticised David Cameron for implying that many of the youngsters who took part in the 2011 riots were from broken homes with no fathers.

Mr Farron says he first became politically conscious as a 14-year-old after watching the seminal campaigning television play Cathy Come Home. He joined the homeless charity Shelter soon afterwards, and then Greenpeace. Tim Farron (centre) with The Voyeurs Until then, his first love had been music. He formed a band, Fred the Girl, later renamed The Voyeurs. ‘We thought it sounded good until we worked out what it meant,’ he said. The group, described as a “fourth rate New Order,” were offered a recording session but for reasons which are lost in the mists of time, never went through with it. Football was another passion; Mr Farron remains a committed support of Blackburn Rovers. Politics took over his life at the age of 16. Having attended Lostock Hall High School until O-Levels, he went to Runshaw College in Leyland for sixth form and it was there, while browsing the societies fair in his first week, that a young Labour activist called Derek Draper engaged him in conversation. Mr Draper, who would go on to be a somewhat controversial New Labour special adviser, can’t have been very persuasive. Five minutes later, Mr Farron says, he joined the Liberals.

Asked why he had opted for the Liberals rather than Labour, he has said: “Because they weren't a liberal party. And they are still not. There are some liberals in the Labour party, but they are a minority. They did not seem to give two hoots about green issues at the time.” It was as an 18-year-old while on a trip to Singapore with his mother that he stumbled across a book one rainy day which, he says, led to “the most massive choice” he has ever made. The book was the Bible, and he read it cover to cover, enthralled. He had found God. Mr Farron’s faith is a literal one. He believes every word in the Bible is true, and knows us so well He can number the hairs on our heads. "I am a sinner, and have regrets every day," he says. "I beat myself up most mornings, really, for the scumbaggery of the day before." Mr Farron went to Newcastle University, where he studied Politics, and, like many of his peers, dabbled in cannabis. In his last year, at the age of 21, he was baptised.

Active in student politics, he became President of the Student Union, the first Liberal or Liberal Democrat to hold the post, and served on the executive of the National Union of Student, where he got to know many Labour politicians who he would retain friendly links with when they were elected to Parliament for their respective parties. Star line-up in the contest for the 1992 general election in the Durham North West Shortly before graduation, and a month shy of his 22nd birthday, Mr Farron made his first foray into national politics, standing for Durham North West at the 1992 general election. His opponents were Hilary Armstrong, the incumbent Labour MP who served as Tony Blair’s Chief Whip, and Theresa May, the current Home Secretary. He came third, but fared better a year later when, by now back in Lancashire, he ran for a seat on his local council. His faith wavered a little in his 20s, as he made his way as an academic at Lancaster University and concentrated on politics, standing unsuccessfully for Parliament in South Ribble in 1997 and the European Parliament in 1999.

But following his marriage to wife Rosemary - known as Rosie - in 2000 and shortly before becoming a father for the first time, he recommitted himself to God at the age of 30. The family - daughters Isabella and Gracie and sons Jude and Laurie - pray at dinner every night at the family home in Milnthorpe, in his south Cumbria constituency. Although he is born-again, he rejects the term “evangelical Christian,” saying: “I just count myself as a Christian, and my faith is in Jesus Christ, I put my trust in Him. I count Him as my Lord and saviour, and I’m in no way ashamed of that.” Charles Kennedy and Tim Farron at the 2001 general election In 2001, Mr Farron fought the Lake District seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale, one of the most beautiful constituencies in the country. Known for its Beatrix Potter charm, Mr Collins identified that there were problems behind the idyllic scenery, with second homes crowding out young locals from the housing market.

Coming a respectable 3,000 votes behind the Conservative incumbent Tim Collins, he was so confident he could overturn the majority next time around that he moved to work at St Martin’s College, in Ambleside in the constituency. His boldness paid off and in 2005, at the age of 34, he toppled Mr Collins, a shadow education minister, by just 267 votes, claiming one of the biggest scalps of election night. Over the ensuing decade, Mr Farron has nursed the constituency carefully, becoming an increasingly popular MP. He has taken advantage of the hills and valleys of his constituency to take up the sport of fell running, but, as a strict vegetarian, denies himself another of its delights: Cumberland sausages. As he arrived in Parliament in May 2005, Mr Farron’s ambition was clear from the start. To the delight of gossip columnists ever since, he briefly rented a room in a property owned by the scandal-plagued Lembit Opik before first moving to the flashy MPs’ hangout of Dolphin Square and later a more modest property.

Under Charles Kennedy’s leadership, his leftish views were no barrier to progression, but (despite the leader’s own Catholicism) his Christianity, or rather the outspoken form it took, began to rub colleagues up the wrong way. Soon after his election, he told the Salvation Army magazine that abortion was “wrong,” adding: "Society has to climb down from the position that there is nothing morally objectionable about abortion before a certain time. If abortion is wrong, it is wrong at any time.” Backing fellow left-winger Simon Hughes to succeed Mr Kennedy, he was embarrassed when the candidate was outed by The Sun newspaper as gay , saying he wished Mr Hughes had been more forthright about his sexuality. Stonewall, the gay rights movement, has since highlighted his own somewhat less than forthright behaviour on equalities issues. He has abstained on a series of votes relating to gay rights, including adoption by homosexual couples and fertility treatment for lesbians. When challenged about his record, Mr Farron points out that he voted in favour of the law recognising gay marriage in 2013. However, he was AWOL for the Bill’s third reading and voted in favour of delaying its implementation.

Presumably on the principle that it was better to have him on the inside p****** out, Sir Menzies Campbell, Mr Kennedy’s successor, invited him inside the tent to serve as his bag carrier (official title Parliamentary Private Secretary), where he continued to assert his views, penning an essay opposing the rise of the Orange Book right of the party. When Sir Menzies stood down, he didn’t bother to let his PPS know until an hour before it was announced in an official statement by the party. Nick Clegg, the new leader, appointed Mr Farron to the post of countryside spokesman but he quit after a year to rebel over the party’s failure to vote for a referendum on the European Union, having promised his constituents he would back it. His spell in the wilderness proved brief: he returned as spokesman on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2009 and a year later saw his majority rise to 12,000 at the 2010 general election. Along with all of his fellow Liberal Democrat MPs, Mr Farron voted in favour of going into Coalition with the Conservatives, but he found life within it more difficult than most.

Having long admitted to having far more in common with Labour voters than Tories, Mr Farron once joked that he needed daily counselling to cope with the strains of working with his former foes. With uncertainty in the air over how long the Coalition, and with it Mr Clegg’s prospects as leader, could survive, and on his 40th birthday, he made his first steps towards promotion within his party. With Vince Cable standing down as deputy leader to focus on his new role of Business Secretary, Mr Farron announced that he would be standing for the post, only to lose out to his former mentor, Simon Hughes. By the summer of 2010, he was growing restless with the Coalition love-in, unhelpfully describing his new Conservative partners as “toxic” and “ugly”. It was music to the ears of a party membership also struggling to get used to their new bedfellows. He received a glowing reception at party conference - wowing delegates with a speech in which he joked that like many Tories he went into politics because of Margaret Thatcher. For the first time commentators began speaking seriously about him as a future party leader.

Seizing the moment, he threw his hat into the ring to be elected party president, narrowly beating Susan Kramer, the former mayoral candidate, by 53 per cent to 47 per cent. The role gave him the perfect opportunity to tour the country, speaking at local associations and building up a growing fan base. He says he would have “loved” to have been a minister, but it is unlikely he would have lasted long as one, as the Coalition years saw him rebel against the Government line on several occasions. Nick Clegg In words surely still ringing in the ears of Lib Dems booted out by the electorate in May, he said of his decision: "Integrity is important. You must not only keep your word but be seen to keep your word. You can say no." He was also one of just two Lib Dems to vote against the bedroom tax, saying he “took some convincing” to sign up to the Coalition’s programme of cuts. His intransigence led Labour to sense a potential defector - but although he raised eyebrows within his party by describing himself as an admirer of Ed Miliband, he rejected the overtures.

Instead, Mr Farron settled into his role as the darling of the party membership, a calming left-of centre voice as Mr Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister, found himself buffeted by a series of scandals and plummeting poll ratings. Star of the annual Lib Dem Christmas party at the Ministry of Sound nightclub - owner James Palumbo was a donor to his personal office - his enthusiastic shape throwing showed he has yet to get The Voyeurs out of his system. And he became an enthusiastic user of Twitter, sending more than 17,000 tweets a year, a rate of one every 20 minutes. In May 2014, Mr Farron played the role of Ukip leader Nigel Farage as he prepped Mr Clegg for his televised debate ahead of the European Elections. It wasn’t enough. The Lib Dems lost all but one of their seats. A panicking Mr Clegg phoned Mr Farron offering to quit; the party president, who was at a wedding reception at the time, spent hours on the phone in the car park persuading him to stay.

"If Nick Clegg wanted to quit, I'd nail his feet to the floor," he said on one of the by now increasingly frequent times he was asked if he wanted the job of leader. “It’s not my burning ambition, but I am not saying I would never do it," he said on another occasion. “Definitely not now or very soon." By the start of the year, with the election on the horizon, the leadership was losing patience with what they saw as his naked eagerness for polling day to be out of the way so that he could assume the mantle of office. When Mr Farron said in an interview that he would give the Lib Dems two out of 10 for their work in Coalition (he previously compared the party to cockroaches for their supposed survival skills) one senior figure said: "Which bit of the sanctimonious, God-bothering, treacherous little s*** is there not to like?" Vince Cable Others were prepared to go on the record. Mr Cable said of Mr Farron: “He’s a very good campaigning MP, but he’s never been in government and has never had to make difficult decisions and I think his credibility isn’t great.

“You know, he’s an entertaining speaker and has a bit of a fan club. But I suspect he would not be seen as a very credible leader, at least now. Maybe in five, 10 years time.” Lord Ashdown joined in saying: “Tim’s a very able guy but at the moment judgment is not his strong suit. I think his well-known ambitions would probably be better served with a little more patience and a little more judgment.” And then the tsunami hit. Election night 2015 saw Lib Dem after Lib Dem succumb to the Conservatives in the South and West, and the SNP in Scotland. As dawn broke on May 9 2015 and they surveyed the wreckage of their party one thing was obvious: Mr Farron’s path was now clear. On a night of horrors for the Liberal Democrats elsewhere, he was the only MP in his party to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote, returning with a majority of nearly 10,000. And none of his main rivals remained in Parliament: Mr Cable, Ed Davey, Danny Alexander, Mr Hughes, all taken out of the game by the electorate.

Norman Lamb Mr Farron consulted the Almighty - of course - and his wife, who said that despite his concerns about the effect on their children it was his “duty” to serve as leader. Three days after the election he made the least-shocking announcement in Liberal Democrat history: he was standing to run for the leadership of the party. Tim Farron: How liberal is the man tipped to succeed Nick Clegg as leader of the Lib Dems? | The Independent Tim Farron: How liberal is the man tipped to succeed Nick Clegg as leader of the Lib Dems? The leader-in-waiting is an unusual Lib Dem: a Christian with an apparently ambivalent attitude to gay rights Friday 15 May 2015 18:47 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Tim Farron is the frontrunner to be the new Lib Dem leader Getty Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Nick Clegg was preparing for last year’s television joust with Nigel Farage. Someone had to pretend to be the Ukip leader, so Clegg could anticipate what his opponent might say, and have his answers ready. The person who took on the role was Tim Farron.

The former president of the Liberal Democrats set his sights years ago on being a party leader – but not the leader of Farage’s party: it was Clegg’s job that he coveted. He would be a more left-wing Lib Dem leader than Clegg. Yet, for part of a day in March 2014, Farron could be heard forcibly arguing for pulling out of Europe, for policing the border to keep immigrants out, that it was the EU’s fault that Russia, under its much-to-be-admired President Vladimir Putin, had seized Crimea, and why it might have been Syrian rebels, rather than the government of Bashir al-Assad, who carried out those murderous gas attacks. Reputedly, he was a reasonably convincing Farage. His help was much appreciated. Farron’s strategy, during a long, patient and barely concealed campaign to be the next Lib Dem leader, was to be loyal and helpful most of the time, except when engaged in carefully calculated rebellions. Of which there have been several. He opposed the toxic proposal to increase university tuition fees in 2010. In 2013, he was one of only two Lib Dems to join Labour in voting against the so-called bedroom tax.

When a motion was put to a party conference to reintroduce the 50p top rate of income tax – introduced by Labour but abolished by the Coalition – Farron defied Clegg by voting in favour. In an interview with the Huffington Post, he expressed “huge unease” at the decision to permit a new nuclear power station to be built at Hinkley Point, though a fellow Lib Dem, the Energy Secretary Ed Davey, was the minister in charge. In a newspaper interview in March, he appeared to be renouncing the five years of coalition entirely, when he warned that the party’s brand would be “tarnished” by it, possibly for a generation. In his first major radio interview after the election, he pointedly referred to the Lib Dems as the Liberal Party, inviting speculation that he wants to change the party’s name to symbolise a break with the immediate past and a reconnection with the glory days of Gladstone, Lloyd George and Beveridge. In addition to these carefully nurtured political credentials, Farron would bring to the leadership an authentic status as a state-educated northerner, at a time when the electorate appears to be allergic to certain privately educated Oxbridge graduates from the south.

Aged 44, he was born in Preston, educated locally, studied at Newcastle University, and worked in higher education in Lancashire before becoming MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale in 2005. He has evidently put down roots as a constituency MP, having been re-elected this month with 51.5 per cent of the vote in a seat held by a Conservative only 10 years ago, and in a year when support for the Lib Dems nationally dive-bombed. Read more Are the Lib Dems due a rebrand? He carried this off despite the damaging publicity around the strange and sad death of Jo Stephenson, the deputy leader of Cumbria County Council, who threw himself off the roof of his house. His widow, Hilary, attributed his suicide to the stress the councillor suffered because of a bitter argument over the ending of free parking, and accused the MP of betrayal. “They’d negotiated a deal but Tim reneged on it and shoved Jo into the forefront to take the wrath,” she told The Mail on Sunday. Inevitably, Farron has other enemies.

He has exasperated most of the leading figures of the party who support what Clegg did in government, and can be expected to rally during the leadership election to Farron’s rival, Norman Lamb. After that interview in March, the party’s elder statesman, Paddy Ashdown, declared damningly: “Tim’s a very able guy, but at the moment judgement is not his strong suit.” Another grandee from the same wing of the party, speaking off the record to The Independent after Farron’s bedroom tax rebellion, was far from tactful. “Which bit of the sanctimonious, God-bothering, treacherous little shit is there not to like?” he asked. That expression “God-bothering” refers to something unusual about Farron – unusual for a left-of-centre politician: he is a Christian, and very open about his religious beliefs. When asked, he says that he believes in a living God, and in heaven and hell. He found religion when he was 18, two years after joining the Liberal Democrats, reputedly when he was trapped indoors on a rainy day during a trip to Singapore with his mother and came upon a book about Christianity.

Farron’s strategy was to be loyal and helpful One aspect of the Coalition government’s record in which most Liberal Democrats take an unembarrassed pride is the advance of gay rights, but Farron’s religious convictions have prompted questions about whether he is in step with the party on this bellwether issue. In 2007, Tony Blair called for a free vote in Parliament on legislation, fiercely opposed by the Catholic Church, which made it illegal for adoption agencies to refuse to allow gay couples to adopt. David Cameron risked the wrath of his party by voting in favour of the law. Farron, who is married with four children, joined the minority, mostly right-wing Tories, who opposed it. The following year, he was absent when the Commons voted for legislation that would allow lesbians to receive fertility treatment. It was not his only such absence: in 2010, when he was running for the deputy leadership of the party, Stonewall calculated that Farron had missed all but three of the votes that affected gay equality during his first five years as an MP. What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain?

1/8 Welfare payments will be slashed One of the most controversial parts of the Conservative manifesto was to cut benefits for the working age poor by £12 bn over the next three years. But during the campaign they only said where £2 bn of these savings would come from. That leaves £10 bn still to find. Some experts think the only way they can close that gap is by means testing child benefit – with millions of families losing out Getty 2/8 There will be tax cuts for those in work and those who die The Tories will increase the threshold at which the 40p rate of tax becomes payable to £50,000 by 2020. They haven’t said so but it is also likely that at some point in the next five years they will abolish that 45p rate of tax altogether for the highest earners. They also want to increase the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1m Getty 3/8 There will be an in/out EU referendum in 2017 The next two years are going to be dominated by the prospect of a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.

First off David Cameron has the daunting task of negotiating a deal with other EU leaders an acceptable deal that he can sell to his party so he can go into the referendum campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote. This may be unachievable and it is possible that the Tories may end up arguing to leave. Opinion polls show Britain is divided on EU membership, one poll this year showed 51% said they would opt to leave compared to 49% who would vote to stay in Getty 4/8 There will be more privatisation of the NHS Having won the election the Tories now have a mandate to go further and faster reforming the NHS. In order to make cost savings there is likely to be greater private involvement in running services, while some smaller hospitals may lose services they currently provide like A&E and maternity units Getty 5/8 There will be many more free schools – and traditional state schools will become a thing of the past The Tories plans to create 500 new free schools and make 3,000 state schools become academies.

They will also carry on reforming the Department of Education and remove more powers from local authorities over how schools are run Getty 6/8 On shore wind farms will be a thing of the past and fracking will be the future Government spending on renewable energy is under real threat now the Lib Dems are no longer in power with the Tories. Subsidies are likely to be slashed for off-shore wind farm and other green energy supplies. Meanwhile there will be generous tax break for fracking as ministers try and incentivise the industry to drill for onshore oil and gas Getty 7/8 There maybe more free childcare – but not necessarily In the campaign the Tories pledged to double the amount of free early education for three- and four-year-olds from 15 hours a week to 30. The extra hours would only be offered to working families where parents are employed for at least eight hours a week. However they have not said where the money will come from to fund the pledge Getty 8/8 Workers' rights could be reduced The Tories want to slash business regulation, merge regulator and cut costs.

The Lib Dems stopped them from reducing the employment rights of workers in power – but these are now under threat Getty In 2013, he voted for the law that recognises gay marriage – though it was noted that when the Bill returned to the Commons for its third and final reading, he was absent. And after the main vote, there was a procedural motion that would have lengthened the time for the legislation to become law. Farron joined a collection of mostly right-wing Tories who voted for the delay. He argued that more time was needed to pacify religious objections to the Bill. These controversies ought not to prevent him from gathering up most of what is called the “activist vote” – the support of the party faithful who fill the halls at conferences. His campaign was kick-started by a valuable endorsement from the Scottish and Welsh Lib Dem leaders, Willie Rennie and Kirsty Williams. He may do less well among the less active party members who avoid conferences, and no one yet knows the political temper of the thousands of recruits who have signed up since the general election. But the probability is that when the sadly depleted battalion of eight Lib Dem MPs has a new leader, it will be Tim Farron.

A life in brief Born: 27 May 1970, Preston, Lancashire. Family: His father, a building trade manager, and his mother separated when he was five. Married to Rosemary Cantley. They have four children. Education: Lostock Hall High School and Runshaw College, Leyland. Politics BA from Newcastle University. Career: Lib Dem local councillor 1993-2000. MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale 2005-present; elected national president of the Lib Dems in 2010. Tim Farron elected as Leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron elected as Leader of the Liberal Democrats By Bess Mayhew on July 16, 2015 We are delighted to announce that Tim Farron has been elected as Leader of the Liberal Democrats. In an all-member ballot for the leadership, 56% of members voted with the result revealed this afternoon. Tim Farron received 56.5% of the votes and in second place Norman Lamb received the backing of 43.5%.

The new leader will be holding his first rally this evening at 7pm, where he will address hundreds of party activists for the first time as their leader. You can watch the action live from 7pm on our website by clicking here. Commenting on the election, Nick Clegg said: “Tim Farron is a remarkable campaigner and a man of the utmost integrity and conviction. “He is a natural communicator with a rare ability to inspire people and rally them to our cause. He knows how to win and I have no doubt he can pick the party up and get us fighting again. “It has been a pleasure to serve alongside Tim in Parliament and a privilege to consider him a friend. I know he will be a brilliant leader and he will always have my support.” While Liberal Democrat Party President Sal Brinton said: “Both Tim and Norman ran distinctively liberal, strong campaigns that spoke to party members across the UK. At numerous hustings and meetings with members, they spoke of their liberal values, the direction they think we should go, and how to best rebuild the party over the coming months and years.

“Tim is a fantastic communicator and his energy, enthusiasm and passion will inspire and drive the Liberal Democrats back to winning ways." Want to find out more about the #libdemfightback? Sign up here... Optional email code Tim Farron profile: The Lib Dems' leader-in-waiting 2 March 2015 Tim Farron profile: The Lib Dems' leader-in-waiting As the activists' darling launches his re-election campaign in the Lake District, he struggles to deflect questions about his next move. Sign up for our weekly email * Print HTML Tim Farron is getting emotional. Tears well in the eyes of the Liberal Democrat MP and his voice cracks as he recounts the words of a constituent to his daughter. “The lady said to Gracie: “You should be really proud of your dad.

We were stuck in a bedsit and he rehoused us, so you should be really proud of your daddy.” He continues: “I’ll tell you what, if she had told me that, I’d have said: ‘That’s very kind of you to say that, but I tell you what, you got rehoused because hundreds of volunteers delivered shedloads of leaflets and the Liberal Democrats won elections and we built council houses and that’s how we rehoused you. So you should be dead proud of yourself and I’m dead proud of you. Because we won elections we rehoused that family, and a thousand more besides, and that is what winning means, winning is not about holding office, winning is about making a difference - and I need you to win again.” It is this heart-on-sleeve style that has made Farron the darling of Lib Dem activists and their likely next leader. He has the indispensable political gift of making members feel that they are part of a moral crusade, a cause that justifies the unglamorous business of door-knocking and leaflet delivering.

Farron recently stood down as the party’s elected president after serving the second term to which he was constitutionally limited; some said he could have held the job for life. “Winning here!” declares the familiar Lib Dem slogan behind him. Farron, 44, is part of the elite group of yellow-rosetted MPs of whom that remains unambiguously true. As he reminds activists gathered in Kendal’s Shakespeare Centre for the launch of his re-election campaign, he won the constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale by just 267 votes in 2005. “Who would have given us a chance of ending what was by that time 95 years of Tory rule? I don’t know.” Yet through Stakhanovite graft, he converted that micro-majority into one of 12,264 in 2010. A clue is provided to this success: his office has done 70,000 pieces of casework, ten times the average MP's.

Farron’s territory has since remained immune from the epic national swing against the Lib Dems (one that has seen them fall from 23 per cent to as low as 5 per cent in some opinion polls). In the 2013 local elections, they won 53.8 per cent of the vote in Westmorland and Lonsdale and made a net gain of two seats from the Conservatives. In the catastrophic 2014 European elections, which saw their bloc of MEPs reduced from 11 to one, the equivalent constituency of South Lakeland was one of just four in which they finished first (the others being Gibraltar, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands). There is perhaps no Lib Dem MP more likely to return to the House of Commons after 7 May than Timothy James Farron. The headline act is preceded by Shirley Williams, the party’s social democratic doyenne and a doughty campaigner at 84. She unhesitatingly lauds him as one of the Lib Dems’ “best-ever” parliamentarians. No reference is made to his status as a leader-in-waiting.

There is surprisingly little local awareness of Farron's potential ascent, though some constituents “worry about him going off to become deputy prime minister”. A pink-shirted Farron begins his speech by recalling the influence that Williams’s 1985 book A Job to Live had on him as a teenager. “I read that because I was a massive nerd and I was doing my O-levels, I did economics O-level. It struck me that what we were looking at in the mid-1980s was not the unemployment that comes from a recession that happens globally, which is a terrible thing but is an external consequence, a symptom of an economic disease, we saw unemployment, as somebody from the north west of England who saw a lot of it, we saw unemployment that was utterly and totally needless. And we saw people who were out of work essentially because the Conservative government of that time thought the way to crack the trade union movement was to make sure that they had no members because you kept people out of work and they couldn’t join a union. We had avoidable, unnecessary human misery caused by a government that chose to act in a specific ideological way.

And that is utterly wicked, that is utterly wicked, that is not bad government that is immoral government. And that book unlocked to me and as I did my economics O-level I thought ‘I am joining the Liberals’”. When Farron uses words such as “wicked” and “immoral” he does not do so for mere rhetorical effect. He is rare among centre-left politicians as a devout Christian who, in defiance of the advice given to Tony Blair by Alastair Campbell, most definitely “does God” (a fish badge is sometimes sported on his lapel). Farron’s religion is one of the few attributes that supporters fear could count against him among the disproportionately atheist Lib Dem selectorate. He was one of 55 MPs to vote in February 2013 for a procedural motion on equal marriage that would have lengthened the time for the legislation to become law through greater consultation with religious opponents. Farron is neither politically nor personally close to Nick Clegg, his party's leader. Indeed, perhaps no two senior Lib Dem figures are less alike.

One is left-leaning, northern (Farron grew up in Preston), comprehensive-educated, Christian and folksy, the other is right-leaning, southern, privately-educated, atheist and technocratic. It is unsurprising that Farron was chosen to play Nigel Farage during Clegg’s preparation for his debates with the Ukip leader: the pair are natural antagonists. To internal critics, Farron exemplifies the student union politics that the Deputy Prime Minister has disassociated the Lib Dems from. A Farron leadership, one source told me, would be “a regression to the Charles Kennedy era”. As a non-member of the coalition government (though he now serves as his party’s foreign affairs spokesman), Farron has been free to rebel without fear of endangering his position. He voted against tuition fees, Secret Courts and the bedroom tax. After the latter, one senior figure was moved to ask: “Which bit of the sanctimonious, god-bothering, treacherous little shit is there not to like?” Those close to Clegg have rarely disguised their irritation with Farron.

In autumn 2013, after he lavished praise on Ed Miliband in a New Statesman interview with me ("I really like Ed Miliband, so I don’t want to diss him. I don’t want join in with the Tories who compare him to Kinnock”), a speech was prepared by the Lib Dem leader in which he was due to acidly remark: "Now I know that some people in our party don’t like us being too nasty to Labour”. On stage at the party’s annual conference, this was diluted to "let's not be too nasty about Labour." But only after the Lib Dem press office had emailed the original text to journalists. If Clegg has wisely avoided public criticism of Farron, he has usually shunned praise too. In his 2014 conference speech, while hailing Lib Dem ministers such as Danny Alexander, Ed Davey and Norman Lamb, he limited his remarks on the departing president to the observation that he had been “so convincingly brilliant at copying Nigel Farage” that it was “terrifying”. At the Shakespeare Centre, Farron nonetheless praises Clegg so fulsomely that he is moved to tears.

“I’ll tell you the thing I am most proud of, most proud of, that nearly nobody knows about, is that there are nearly 3,000 children of asylum seekers who are not under lock and key now because of what Nick Clegg did with his popularity. “I hear Nick Clegg being attacked regularly; if you want to know the integrity of somebody, it’s that he spends his political capital, gets nothing for it and makes people’s lives better. That’s a man with integrity. “Polybius, great Greek philosopher, once said that those who know how to acquire power are far greater in number than those who know how to use it wisely; absolutely spot on and I would say that Nick Clegg falls into the latter category.” When Farron and I speak after the event, I ask him to respond to polls suggesting the Lib Dem leader is on course to lose his Sheffield Hallam seat to Labour (one senior source describes Clegg as “absolutely terrified”).

“I saw the polls suggesting that David Steel would lose his seat, that Paddy Ashdown would lose his seat, you’ve got to remember that Liberal Democrat leaders throughout history have always been in a more precarious position than their Labour or Tory opponents, because we don’t do safe seats, Sheffield Hallam was a Tory seat until ‘97,” he replies. But he concludes: “You take nothing for granted, like I take this not at all for granted. But I think Nick’s strength in his constituency is strong and it’s a little bit of a sideshow.” He wisely ducks the question of how many of the Lib Dems’ 56 MPs will survive the election (most in the party privately predict they will retain around half). “I think if I gave you a number, which I know you’d like me to do but I’m not going to, I think it would either be arrogant, assuming we’ll win seats which maybe we won’t, or the alternative would be that I’d be effectively writing off some colleagues. “I’ve got in my head what I think is a number, there are various sets of numbers, which you think are acceptable, disastrous, brilliant and more shades in between.

I was talking about 1997 before, that was our leap forward from being an outsider party to a main player party. We need to be nearer that ‘97 result [46 seats] than, shall we say, the results that came before it and that’s as close as I’ll get to giving you a number.” Williams is more forthcoming, telling me: “I don’t personally think that we’ll lose more than maybe a quarter, maybe not even that. We will win one or two, I think, and we’ll lose a few. It will be much less dramatic than the tabloids suggest, it’s completely mad, all that stuff about being wiped out is just silly.” For the Lib Dems, the consoling factor, and one explanation for the party’s extraordinary discipline, is the possibility that they could again hold the balance of power in a hung parliament. With an eye to the rise of Ukip and the SNP, Farron frames the choice facing the electorate as one between competing coalition partners. “Do you want, this is the real million dollar question here, do you want the party that is second in the next coalition agreement to be some separatist or nationalist wrapped in a Union Jack or a Saltire?

Or do you want the next party that is the junior party in that coalition to be sane, sensible, moderate and progressive? And if you want the latter, because the former is terrifying, you have to vote Liberal Democrat.” I ask Farron whether, in the event of a hung parliament, the Lib Dems would side with the party that wins the most votes or that which wins the most seats. As in 1951 and February 1974, they may not be the same. Labour’s better-concentrated vote and the unreformed constituency boundaries mean that is likely to win more seats if the parties are tied or even if the Tories are slightly ahead. To date, senior Lib Dems such as Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander have simply dodged the question (though both privately favour the Tories). But Farron breaks with this studied ambiguity by siding with most seats - and acknowledges that such a stance favours Labour. “Let’s say the Tories get more votes and Labour win more seats, which is quite possible, we may think that morally we should put the Tories in but they won’t have enough seats, we won’t have a choice.

Last time round, us plus Labour was 11 short of a majority of one, so a majority where we’d have had to rely on Jeremy Corbyn voting through the Budget, things like that, for instance, so 11 short even of that level of a majority, so it wasn’t an option.” He adds: “I think the same thing will be the case this time round, almost certainly. We will not have a choice. We will be presented with an arithmetic by the electorate and all parties must be grown-up enough to accept it and not say, “Well, thank you for your opinions, we didn’t like it, tough’. Whatever the electorate give us through this fruit machine of an electoral system that we have, we have to be big enough, grown-up enough to make sure it works. “The fundamental promise we must make to the electorate is that we will respect the outcome of the election and we will ensure, do everything in our power to ensure, stable government straight after the election, whether we are part of it or not.” I end with the question that both Farron and I know is coming: will he stand for the leadership the next time there is a vacancy?

He replies with the carefully-worded answer of a man who has faced this inquiry many times. “My answer to that, and I know why you ask it, if I answer that, obviously a whole bunch of things happen, one way or the other. My take is that this is, and you know there’s no kind of hyperbole here whatsoever, the toughest election we’ve faced, certainly for a generation, possibly for longer. In which case, me giving headspace or column space, to any ambition I may or may not have on whatever happens after 8 May, would just be energy-sapping, it would be diverting, it would be arrogant, I’d be a bit of a prat if I spent much time or any time thinking about it.” Farron may soon have no choice. Among most Lib Dems the “working assumption” (in the words of one) is that Clegg will depart after the election unless he can form another stable coalition with the Conservatives. Even then, the party’s losses may be wounding enough to force his resignation. Norman Lamb, the care minister, is now regarded as Farron’s main challenger.

Danny Alexander, who had been positioning himself for the job, will struggle to retain his Inverness constituency (a recent poll put the SNP 29 points ahead) and is tarnished by association with the coalition (a frequent complaint among Lib Dems is that he has gone “native” at the Treasury). Lamb, a member of the party’s free market “Orange Book” wing, is viewed by the right as the best available “stop Farron” candidate. But while the North Norfolk MP is well-regarded by lobby journalists and popular among the parliamentary party, he cannot match Farron’s rapport with activists. Mindful of this, he is “working the rubber chicken circuit hard” in the words of one source (so called because of the substandard fare served at local party dinners). At one point in our conversation, Farron reflects on the irony that first-past-the-post, the electoral system against which the Lib Dems have long crusaded, could now be their saviour. Renowned incumbents will survive as other candidates are swept away. “We are absolutely competitive in all the places we’ve been traditionally competitive in,” he says.

But he adds: “A major job for us, on day one after the election, is to begin rebuilding everywhere else; you have to protect the citadels first and then we can go out and repopulate the plains.” At this moment, it is hard to visualise anyone but Farron leading the troops back across the wasteland. Tim Farron is new Lib Dem leader - BBC News BBC News Tim Farron is new Lib Dem leader 16 July 2015 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Media captionTim Farron MP: "We may not be able to change Britain from the top down - just for the moment - but we can change lives from the bottom up" Tim Farron is the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, the party has announced. The former party president beat Norman Lamb in the contest to replace Nick Clegg, with 56.5% of the votes cast. The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP, whose victory was announced on Twitter , is to make his first public appearance as leader at a central London rally later. "Our job now is to turn millions of liberals throughout the UK into Liberal Democrats", he tweeted .

Mr Lamb, a care minister in the coalition government, offered his congratulations , saying Mr Farron would make a "fantastic" leader who championed social justice. Mr Clegg tweeted : "It's a tough job but the best in politics. I know Tim will do us proud." The new leader's immediate task is to rebuild the Lib Dems after a disastrous general election that left the party with just eight MPs. Who is Tim Farron?

The Newcastle University graduate joined the Liberal Party aged 16 He stood for Parliament four times before finally being elected in 2005 He has increased his majority from under 300 to more nearly 9,000 in the past 10 years He voted against a rise in tuition fees in 2011 He did not serve in the coalition and was party president between 2011 and 2014 His heroes are Jo Grimond, Joe Strummer and CS Lewis Tim Farron wins Lib Dem leadership race Tim Farron wins Lib Dem leadership race 17/07/15 Tim Farron was named the new leader of the Liberal Democrats last night after it was announced he won the vote, beating competitor Norman Lamb… The 2015 General Election will not be remembered fondly by the Liberal Democrats. After enjoying five years in government as coalition partners, no one expected the Lib Dems to crash and burn quite as spectacularly as they did on 7 May. As a Lib Dem supporter it certainly was difficult viewing. However, after such a crushing defeat in which the party lost most of its seats it really came as no surprise when then leader Nick Clegg announced his resignation.

After such a loss there really was no other road for him to take but to step down. Who would replace him was decided last night, when Former Care Minister Norman Lamb went head-to-head with party president Tim Farron . Farron, who had been the favourite to win, beat Lamb with 19,137 of the 33,897 votes cast. A total of 56 per cent of the party’s members took part. Upon winning the vote, Farron said he would “work every day” to repay the faith shown in him. He also gave thanks to Lamb and Clegg for their work. Farron, who admitted he had been “completely gutted” after the election, said around 17,000 new members had joined the party since and urged supporters to fight “ward by ward” to push the liberal cause forward. He said: “We may not be able to change Britain from the top down just at the moment, but we can change lives from the bottom up.” Farron said the party needed to start fighting back immediately on issues such as welfare, pay, and climate change.

Liberalism, he added, was “under threat” but said it was “absolutely essential”. It echoed a similar statement given by Clegg when he stepped down . He lamented the loss of liberalism in the UK and indeed the wider world. So what approach will the party take under Farron’s leadership? One of the main issues the Lib Dems will oppose is, unsurprisingly, cuts to the welfare system. Austerity measures here are set to impact the lowest rung of society, with 13 million families set to be worse off as a result . Farron lambasted some of the changes stipulated in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget , including inheritance tax, which will see the rules amended going forward. “Youngish families on lowish incomes, who are hard-working and in-work and people who are rich – the 6 per cent richest people in the country – will benefit from an inheritance tax cut,” he said. “That is not sound economics, that is not about making tough decisions, that is about redistributing the damage done by the financial crash towards the poor and away from the rich and that is just morally wrong.

“Societies which are unequal are not just morally failing but they are failing in output as well.” Farron will also push the government for more spending on infrastructure such as transport and broadband. Party president Sal Brinton commented on the win, stating: “Tim is a fantastic communicator and his energy, enthusiasm and passion will inspire and drive the Liberal Democrats back to winning ways.” Whether or not Farron will be able to turn around the terrible situation the party is currently in remains to be seen. As leader he has five years to win back the favour of the electorate and to try to regain Lib Dem seats. Much trust was lost when the Liberal Democrats entered into coalition with the Conservatives and those bridges may take a long time to rebuild. He certainly has an uphill struggle to put the party back in favour with the general public. Leave a Reply Tim Farron named Liberal Democrat party leader | Politics | The Guardian Tim Farron Tim Farron named Liberal Democrat party leader MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale beats Norman Lamb who struggled to shake off image of being continuity candidate Tim Farron won the Lib Dem leadership contest by a margin of 4,500 votes out of a total of 34,000.

Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Thursday 16 July 2015 11.33 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 09.26 EDT Close This article is 1 year old Tim Farron, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has been named the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, winning the vote among party members by 56.5% to 43.5%. Farron, a former party president who was one of the eight Lib Dems to retain their seats in May’s general election, beat the MP for North Norfolk, Norman Lamb , by 4,500 votes out of a total of 34,000. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Nick Clegg, who quit the day after the party lost 48 of its 56 MPs, leaving it the fourth party in the Commons. Tim Farron profile: who is the new Liberal Democrat leader ? Read more Voting closed at 2pm on Wednesday and the result was announced on Twitter, through the Lib Dem press office account, on Thursday, putting to an end 10 weeks of busy campaigning.

Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) We are delighted to announce that @timfarron has been elected as Leader of the Lib Dems. pic.twitter.com/Khd7KH64aF Minutes after the result was announced, Farron tweeted his followers to thank them for their support. Tim Farron (@timfarron) THANK YOU! This is a liberal country. Our job now is to turn millions of liberals throughout the UK into Liberal Democrats #LibDemFightback July 16, 2015 Lamb said the leadership election had energised the party and that he gave his full backing to Farron. He said: “Tim Farron will be a passionate leader of our party, championing social justice and leading from the front in our campaign to rebuild the liberal voice in our country.” Tim Farron interview: ‘Maybe God’s plan is for me to lose a bunch of elections and be humbled’ Read more A key figure on the left of the party, Farron was always the favourite to win the contest, polling 58% of the vote in a survey of party members conducted on Monday.

Speaking to an audience of around 500 party members after his victory, Farron described the Lib Dem defeat at the general election as “overwhelming, desperate, heartbreaking.” He said the party’s election campaign had focused too much on what the party wasn’t instead of what it was. “So let me be crystal clear what the Liberal Democrats are for: we are the party that sees the best in people not the worst,” said Farron to deafening applause. “We are the party that believes that the role of government is to help us to be the best that we can be, no matter who we are or what our background.” Despite being widely respected for his campaigning on mental health, Lamb, who served as Clegg’s parliamentary private secretary and the care minister under the coalition government, struggled to shake off the image of being a continuity candidate. Lamb won the support of many of the party’s most senior figures, including former leaders Menzies Campbell and Paddy Ashdown and the founding member of the Social Democratic party, Shirley Williams, whereas the bulk of Farron’s support came more from the grassroots of the party.

Though Farron claims to be passionately proud of the Lib Dems’ record in government, he voted against some of the coalition’s most unpopular policies, including the bedroom tax and, crucially, tuition fees – something he admits will have helped his campaign. Farron now faces the daunting challenge of rebuilding the party, which saw its worst result since it was founded with the merger of the Liberal party and the SDP in 1988. His approach will be to start at the very bottom. “Pick a ward and win it … There’s a small foothill, scale it,” he told the Guardian before the vote, arguing that the party will need to make big gains at local elections if it is going to stand a chance of winning back some of those 48 lost seats in 2020. The Lib Dems under Farron will not try to be outspoken on every issue, but will instead champion issues that the two more populist parties are not willing to tackle. They will campaign against the right to buy being extended to Housing Association tenants and be unequivocal about the tragedy of the Mediterranean migrant crisis while extolling the benefits of immigration.

“If we cheese off 70% of the electorate, but 30% embrace us, we’ll have that,” he told the Guardian in an interview during the campaign. Despite calls from Danny Alexander , the former Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, for the party not to vacate the centre ground and become “a sort of soggy Syriza in sandals”, Farron has been clear that he is not a centrist politician. “I think centrism is pointless. It’s uninspiring. I’m not a centrist,” he said at a recent hustings in Bristol , though he refused to say where he saw himself on the political spectrum, insisting politics was more complicated than left and right. Clegg welcomed Farron’s victory, describing him as “a remarkable campaigner” and a man of “the utmost integrity and conviction” who would always have his support. The former Lib Dem leader said in a statement: “He is a natural communicator with a rare ability to inspire people and rally them to our cause. He knows how to win and I have no doubt he can pick the party up and get us fighting again.

It has been a pleasure to serve alongside Tim in parliament and a privilege to consider him a friend.” The election – which saw the candidates take part in 25 hustings and more than 100 campaign events – was superficially civil, with both candidates professing their admiration for one another. But last month, Lamb suspended two members of his campaign team when they were found to have privately polled party members about what Lamb’s aides considered to be Farron’s illiberal voting record on abortion and LGBT rights. Farron is a committed Christian and was among nine Lib Dem MPs who abstained at a third reading of the marriage (same-sex couples) bill, a move he attributes to concerns about aspects of the bill relating to “protecting people’s right to conscience”. When asked to name policy areas where the two candidates differed, Lamb would cite Farron’s opposition to assisted dying, which Lamb said was fundamental to his own liberalism. Farron told the Guardian during the campaign that he did not think he would be receiving the same level of scrutiny of his religious beliefs if he were Jewish or Muslim, and that people who were concerned his faith would affect his ability to lead a liberal party should “look more carefully into what liberalism really is”.

Tim Farron elected new leader of Liberal Democrats to replace Nick Clegg | The Independent Tim Farron elected new leader of Liberal Democrats to replace Nick Clegg But the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale faces a tough road ahead Thursday 16 July 2015 15:31 BST Click to follow Indy Politics Tim Farron at a rally in north London Getty In Government he was isolated by the Liberal Democrat leadership, considered too left wing and too untrustworthy to hold ministerial office. But the tables have been turned after Tim Farron decisively won the battle to succeed Nick Clegg as Lib Dem leader, while those who might have been his closest rivals were unable to even stand because they had lost their seats in Parliament. Mr Farron, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, beat Norman Lamb, a former health minister, by 56.5 per cent to 43.5 per cent – a narrower margin than most in the party had predicted. But worryingly, only 56 per cent of Lib Dem members eligible to vote turned out, suggesting Mr Farron has a long way to go to rebuild the activist base following May’s disastrous election result.

Read more Interview: Farron says party needs to return to grassroots After his victory was announced, Mr Farron, who was the only Lib Dem to increase his majority at the election, said he planned to re-invent the party “from the bottom up” focusing less on Westminster politics and more on rebuilding its base in local Government. “Westminster is only one brick in the governance of this country,” Mr Farron said at a Liberal Democrat rally in Islington, north London, after the result was announced. Tim Farron's predecessor, Nick Clegg, and his leadership rival, Norman Lamb, greet his victory “The challenges we face in the cities, towns and villages of these islands, are ones which we can help to address wherever there are Liberal Democrats. “We may not be able to change Britain from the top down but we can change lives from the bottom up. Our survival, revival, our rebirth our rebuild will happen in communities in councils in common rooms, away from the stuffy corridors of Westminster.

“Step by step, we will change people lives for the better and as we do that we will regain their trust.” The major political figures who lost out in the General Election The major political figures who lost out in the General Election 1/16 Ed Balls Ed Balls lost his seat in what was the biggest shock of an extraordinary night of election results. His defeat in compounded Labour's woes in a dismal night, which saw the party lose all but one of its Scottish MPs and will undoubtedly lead to Ed Miliband standing down. 2/16 Nigel Farage OK, so he came close to being upstaged by a professional comedian – Al Murray aka the Pub Landlord, had also lost in South Thanet. But as he lost his fight to become an MP and resigned his Ukip leadership, Nigel Farage did manage to get in a few gags. He began by railing against the editors of the The Sun and the Daily Mail, sarcastically calling them “geniuses”. But perhaps bearing the last election in mind, when he was in intensive care following an air crash, he said after the result that he felt “pretty good”. “Never felt happier,” in fact. A weight lifted off the old shoulders. Quite right too, old boy.

More time for the saloon bar and a pint, or five. AFP/Getty Images 3/16 Vince Cable A huge scalp for the Conservatives, even though he was part of their coalition government. The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary lost his Twickenham seat to Tory candidate Tania Mathias. Cable had held the seat since 1997 and was a strong figure in the Lib Dems, having previously been deputy leader. Christopher Furlong | Getty Images 4/16 Jim Murphy A sign of how dire things are in Scotland now for the Labour party. The leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Jim Murphy, lost his Renfrewshire East to the SNP, having held the seat since 2005. He held a number of cabinet positions under the administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images 5/16 Danny Alexander The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Nick Clegg's right-hand man, Danny Alexander, lost his seat of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey to the SNP. His aides admitted defeat several hours before the formal decision was due. There were suggestions that the SNP vote could be as high as 50 per cent.

BEN STANSALL | AFP | Getty Images 6/16 Esther McVey The Minister of State for Employment and one of the few women in David Cameron’s male-dominate cabinet, Esther McVey had only held Wirral West since 2010. Her 2,436 majority was overturned and Labour's Margaret Greenwood won the seat with a 417 majority. BEN STANSALL | AFP | Getty Images 7/16 George Galloway The former Labour MP had held the seat of Bradford West since 2012 for the Respect Party. He previously held the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow for Respect between 2005 and 2010, although he unsuccessfully contested Poplar and Limehouse in 2010. Nigel Roddis | Getty Images 8/16 Charles Kennedy Another huge Lib Dem scalp, with the SNP taking the seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber from the former leader of the party. Kennedy had led the Lib Dems between 1999 and 2006 and had become something of an elder statesman of the party.

He conceded defeat ahead of the official declaration and said he would not give any TV interviews. He had been an MP since 1983. Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images 9/16 Douglas Alexander The shadow Foreign Secretary and Ed Miliband's Chair of General Election Strategy, Danny Alexander had been the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South since 1997. He lost his seat to the SNP, with the party now holding a 9,076 majority. Labour's share of the vote was down by 21.3 per cent. Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images 10/16 Simon Hughes Simon Hughes held a key Liberal Democrat seat in London, Bermondsey and Old Southwark, which he held from 1983. Hughes is a former deputy leader of the Lib Dems and had been minister of state at the Ministry of Justice since 2013. He was previously the President of the party, as well as a two-time leadership candidate, and stood for the party in the 2004 Mayoral election.

Rob Stothard | Getty Images 11/16 Mark Reckless An MP for Rochester and Strood since 2010, Reckless switched from the Conservatives to Ukip in September 2014 and winning the seat outright in November. He was the second Ukip MP after Douglas Carswell, and his loss is a huge blow to Nigel Farage’s party. Carl Court | Getty Images 12/16 Margaret Curran Margaret Curran had held Glasgow East since 2010 and was the shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. She had previously been the MSP for Glasgow Baillieston (a seat she might wish she still held, as it is still held by Labour under the title Glasgow Provan). Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images 13/16 David Laws A Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil since 2001, he was the minister of state for Schools. He had briefly been Chief Secretary to the Treasury after the 2010 election, only holding the office for 17 days after resigning due to the disclosure of his Parliamentary expenses claims. Laws was a key negotiator for the Lib Dems when the coalition was being formed five years ago.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images 14/16 Jo Swinson On her election in 2005, she was the youngest member of the House of Commons. Under the Coalition government, the Lib Dem MP was the Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs and for Women and Equalities. She lost her seat of East Dunbartonshire to the SNP's John Nicholson. Matthew Lloyd | Getty Images 15/16 Ed Davey The Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey had been the MP for Kingston and Surbiton since 1997. Davey championed the Lib Dems' role in ensuring the Conservative-led Coalition championed the green agenda. However, the well-known Lib Dem MP lost his seat to the Tories, having held the seat in 2010 by 7,560 votes. Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images 16/16 Lynne Featherstone Lynne Featherstone lost her London seat of Hornsey and Wood Green to the Labour party. She was a former junior Home Office minister with responsibility for equality, then becoming junior minister with responsibility for international development.

Dan Kitwood | Getty Images Mr Farron’s victory expected to move the Lib Dems decisively away from the centrist of politics of the Coalition which he described in one hustings event as “uninspiring” and “pointless”. It is also likely to result in some former senior Lib Dem MPs playing a much less prominent role in re-building the party than they would have done if Mr Lamb had won. Danny Alexander, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, warned during the campaign that the Lib Dems should not vacate the centre ground and become “a sort of soggy Syriza in sandals”. But Mr Clegg said he believed Mr Farron had the ability to pick the party up and get it fighting again. “Tim Farron is a remarkable campaigner and a man of the utmost integrity and conviction. “He is a natural communicator with a rare ability to inspire people and rally them to our cause. He knows how to win and I have no doubt he can pick the party up and get us fighting again. “It has been a pleasure to serve alongside Tim in Parliament and a privilege to consider him a friend.

I know he will be a brilliant leader and he will always have my support.” Read more Campaign turns nasty as Lamb takes aim at Farron’s faith Mr Lamb congratulated Mr Farron and said he would make a “fantastic” party leader who would champion social justice. “Tim Farron will be a passionate leader of our party, championing social justice and leading from the front in our campaign to rebuild the liberal voice in our country. I will give him my full backing,” he said. Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Lib Dem leader, said: “After a keenly-fought contest, the new leader is entitled to the full support of every Liberal Democrat. “But none of us should be in any doubt that the leader and the party must be in it for the long haul. There will be no quick fixes, only hard work, commitment and dedication to the cause.”

Question: Who did Tim Farron beat for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats this year?
Answer: NORMAN LAMB