Tim Farron: New Liberal Democrat Hope or Who Cares?

Well as all of you will have heard (hopefully), Tim Farron (who?) was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. Before I get started, I’d just like to be clear about my bias, I am a Liberal Democrat and I voted for Tim.

In order to explain how Farron could even be considered a ‘new hope’, you should know about his past. He was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, raised by a single mum, and as he says politicized by Cathy Come Home. This has for understandable reasons turned him into someone of natural left-leaning; this puts him in stark contrast with Nick Clegg who had a more right-leaning and, as we all know, worked with the Conservatives, so this is already naturally distancing us from the coalition.

This distancing is extenuated by the fact that Farron never had a ministerial position and voted against key policies like the rise in tuition fees (a good sign he might actually have sense) and the almost as notorious ‘Bedroom Tax’. This all seems promising, a Liberal who can be trusted and doesn’t vote with the party line if he thinks it’s wrong, however naturally this causes him to make enemies which I shall talk about later.

However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. He has had large questions raised about his liberalness, due to his faith. A devout Christian, he abstained from the third hearing of the gay marriage bill due to his belief it impeached on religious freedom of speech (not equal marriage itself, but a clause in the bill). There were also questions asked about his views on abortion after he said that every single abortion was a “tragedy”. He could easily re-buff these by stating that he does believe in equal marriage; it was just a simple clause in the bill that he objected to (as I mentioned earlier) and that while abortion is a tragedy, it’s a necessary and appropriate thing to be legal (for reasons which I won’t go into, let’s not open that can of worms today). However, by the time this reply is said, the damage is done.

Not only this, but his refusal to always tow the party line has made him some influential party enemies, as he was described by one party official as a “sanctimonious, god bothering, traitorous shit.” So his competitor in the election got the backing of influential figures like Paddy Ashdown (former leader), this combined with Norman Lamb (his competitor) championing liberal causes like the right to die, drugs, and gay equality. However, in the end this didn’t stop the wave that was his campaign, where he focused on the future and what we could do, in the end hope won over the infinitely more credible Norman Lamb.

Most people will not give a damn about the fact the Lib Dems have a new leader, people (and I speak as someone who is a member and so is bombarded with this constantly) think the Lib Dems are irrelevant in government now. If you think this you would be right, we have eight MPs. In reality those 8 MPs mean as much as Labour’s 232, for the sad fact that the Tories have a majority. So yes, we are irrelevant in Westminster, but guess what? Our new leader Tim Farron knows that, his entire campaign was based around about how we need to stop focusing on Westminster and focus on local community politics. Again, I’m bombarded with comments about how we can’t be trusted. you know what, I understand. We as a party screwed up big time, but yet again Farron has basically admitted this. He rated the Lib Dems in power as 2 out of 10, this is hardly someone defending our track record.

Tim Farron was asked in a Channel 4 interview whether he thought homosexual sex was a sin, he avoided the question and did not say no or yes. As someone who is gay, voted for Farron and did religious studies for two years (with a teacher who was a devout Irish Catholic who is also devoutly libertarian), I feel qualified to defend him on this issue. He wasn’t asked whether he thought homosexual sex and homosexuals should be seen in exactly the same way as straight people and straight sex in the eyes of the law, his answer to that has always been yes. He was asked whether it was a sin, there is a key difference, a sin isn’t something you have personal views on, it’s a yes or no answer. This is because it’s a religious idea; it is what the Christian religion as dictated by the Bible considers to be morally wrong. Som as the Bible says homosexual sex is wrong, it is a sin – no getting away from that fact, no matter how ridiculous we all, including Farron, see it. He would have been lying if he said no it wasn’t a sin, it was a sneakily or plain badly worded question by Channel 4. So again I feel morally obliged to emphasise that Farron has always been a defender of equality, and thinks homosexuals should be seen in equal terms as heterosexuals.

What does his election mean for the Liberal Democrats? A new start to put it simply, with a leader with many of the same qualities as Charles Kennedy, he has the opportunity to rebuild my party and make it stronger than ever. Don’t think because the election was close we are disunited. We are not! We are closer together than ever, because as Liberals we are willing to listen to each other’s ideas and so create policies that not only help the rich or only the poor, but policies that help everyone. Farron being left leaning doesn’t change that, as he has said he is going to surround himself with people of all different walks of life in order to expand that great quality of the party.

I know I’m biased on this issue, but I genuinely see Farron as possibly a new hope for a party I hold dear, but again, who cares? No matter how good, how honest Farron is, he has one MAJOR problem. He’s a Liberal Democrat. He can say whatever he likes, and he’ll still be lucky to get a mention on the news. Just look at his opening rally as leader, the BBC of all people cut him off halfway through his speech as there was some rolling piece of coverage going on! That’s how little people care about us, even the BBC can’t be bothered. Yeah, I know no one cares about my party, and I understand why. We’re not sanctimonious, god bothering, traitorous shits (unfortunately). But if you listen to what our new leader has to say, you might just be surprised to find you agree, and that you most certainly can trust him…

I could babble on about this so if you have any questions please send them to my Twitter @CharlieHodgson7, and I will answer any questions you may have.

PLEASE NOTE: The information and views set out in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of Cultured Vultures