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Tim Farron elected new leader of the Liberal Democrats to replace Nick Clegg Tim Farron elected new leader of the Liberal Democrats to replace Nick Clegg
(about 5 hours later)
Tim Farron has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats. In Government he was isolated by the Liberal Democrat leadership, considered too left wing and too untrustworthy to hold ministerial office.
Mr Farron, who hails from the centre-left of the party, beat his centre-right rival Norman Lamb in a low-key, head-to-head contest. 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.
He won by 56.5 per cent of the vote to 43.5 per cent. 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.
The new leader, only the fifth in the party's history, was not a minister under the 2010 Coalition government. 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.
Despite being president of the Liberal Democrats Mr Farron was an occasional critic of the Government's record, withdrawing its support for the controversial 'bedroom tax'. 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.
Mr Farron replaces Nick Clegg, who took the party from 62 seats under its previous leader in 2005 to 57 seats in 2010 and then down to only eight in 2015. “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
Mr Clegg will for now remain on the backbenches, meaning the party will not have to fight a by-election for his now highly marginal seat of Sheffield Hallam. “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.
“Our image, our message and our brand got blurred [in government] and at best it was managerial,” Mr Farron told the Independent during the contest. “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. 
“We ended in a situation where people did not know what we stood for. We need to get back to the grassroots. We have to start in local government rebuilding there right away and you do that by making the party a campaigning party on the ground." “Step by step, we will change people lives for the better and as we do that we will regain their trust.”
Voting in the leadership election closed at 2pm on Wednesday. The announcement was made on social media today. 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”.
Mr Farron is the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale in the North West of England. 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.
The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 as a merger of the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party. The two parties had previously campaigned on a joint 'alliance' slate. 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.”
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.”