In conversation with – Tim Farron
Gary Gibbon
Political Editor
What would Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron do if he became party leader? Would he move the Lib Dems towards Labour with a return to “tax and spend”? Join Gary Gibbon to find out.
We can’t know who the next leader of the Lib Dems will be but we can be pretty sure who one of the candidates will be.
Tim Farron won the presidency of the Lib Dems in a vote of members last year. In his constituency, Westmorland , he overturned a Conservative majority of 3,167 in 2005 and now sits on a Lib Dem majority of 12,264.
“Sits” probably isn’t the right word though. He’s a relentless constituency campaigner who also finds time to speak at countless other constituencies too.
Every Lib Dem I’ve spoken to is convinced Tim Farron will run for the leadership of his party in the next contest and it’s not hard to work out what his manifesto might look like.
He abstained two weeks ago in the vote on the NHS reforms. He voted against the rise in tuition fees. Many Lib Dem MPs have told me they expect Tim Farron to run as the “anti-coalition” candidate whenever a leadership contest comes.
Pick up the conference guide and you’ll find him writing that the leadership of the party has been “naïve” not to realise the threat it faced as the smaller partner in Coalition.
“Clearly we have not succeeded in communicating our message,” Tim Farron writes, “which has led to a loss of identity and in turn a loss of support.”
So what would the party be like if Tim Farron led it?
I asked one Lib Dem minister regarded as on the right of the party and he said: “Well, it wouldn’t have me in it for starters.”
Tim Farron’s critics say he risks taking the party “backwards” to the “old tax and spend” agenda. His fans see him as reconnecting the party with its true spirit, keeping it a healthy distance from the Tories and perhaps more likely to fall into bed with Labour.
When Ed Miliband spurned Nick Clegg’s company in the AV referendum campaign, it was notable that the Labour leader was happy to share a platform with Tim Farron instead.
On Tuesday 20 September at 1pm I’ll be chatting to Tim Farron at the first Channel 4 News Lib Dem Conference “In Conversation” fringe meeting.
I’ll be asking him what motivates him, what’s good about the coalition and where his party should go next?
