Former Lib Dem president Tim Farron made few friends by scoring his party’s general election campaign a ‘two out of 10’. His Christianity makes him a controversial candidate for the leadership – but could he be the ‘spiky,different man for the job?The only surprise I could find in last week’s Lib Dem leadership drama was the fact that it didn’t reach sooner. Last weekend, aides working for Tim Farron’s leadership rival Norman Lamb were caught privately polling party members with negative questions about his Christian beliefs. Lamb apologised to Farron, or the aides resigned and everyone pretended to be mildly shocked by their unsporting conduct. But no one can have been genuinely amazed to see Farron’s faith become a factor in the race to become his party’s next leader.
Farron wasn’t. “One hopes for better among the Liberal Democrats,but of course I’m not surprised,” he says quietly. “In elections you can choose to play the man or the ball, or whether you choose to play the man,you gawk for a perceived political weakness – and some people perceive my faith as a weakness. In the US, everyone has to invent a faith to secure elected. Here you’re not allowed to have one. But my faith is my faith, and nothing is going to change that.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com