LibLink: Tim Farron on the general election and afterwards

Over on the Huffington Post, Tim Farron talks about the election campaign from his constituency in Cumbria.

People need to believe they are not just going through the motions. We are not just doing it because we hate the Tories or because we like winning elections or because it’s a way of me getting a job. It’s about the things you can do with power.

He confesses that he would like to be a minister in a future Coalition; it was his role as Party President that precluded that, but also allowed him to emerge from this Parliament with a reputation untainted by proximity to Tories.

He was asked about the reports that claim he wants to be Leader, to which he responded:

What a load of nonsense all that really is,” he says of the reports. “You have to take that all with a pinch of salt.

I’ve had chats with Nick Clegg about this and he is absolutely lovely about it. People write stuff about me. He had it happen to him. I am very grateful to him about how decent he is about it all.

If I am dedicating any headspace to what happens after May 7 then I’m a prat. And an arrogant prat. So we are not going to do that.

On the possibility of another coalition, he said:

The number one base line priority has got to be to ensure Britain has a stable government post May 7 – whether we are part of it or not.

If you go into coalition negotiations only being prepared to settle for a coalition you will give away far too much and get too little.

[The Lib Dem leadership should consider ] another arrangement other than coalition,  including supply and confidence or something different entirely.

It’s not that it’s been tough for Lib Dems, therefore we will be more wary about going into coalition, it’s that there are more options available this time around.

You can read the rest of the article which also includes some pertinent comments from Shirley Williams, who helped him launch his campaign.

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6 Comments

  • “…We are not just doing it because we hate the Tories…”

    No, not just for that reason. But it is a good enough reason even if there were no other.

  • paul barker 2nd Mar '15 - 5:07pm

    No, hate is never a good reason for anything. If Liberalism is about anything its love.

  • Stephen Hesketh 2nd Mar '15 - 6:46pm

    paul barker 2nd Mar ’15 – 5:07pm

    “If Liberalism is about anything its love.”

    … and hence our hating of intolerance, unfairness, inequality … and so back to why Tory and UKIP core values are typically the very antipathy of Liberal Democracy and so inspiring and worthy of our strongest domestic political reactions.

  • Martin Land 2nd Mar '15 - 8:46pm

    Speak for yourself Tim. I’m doing it because I hate the Tories.

  • David Evans 3rd Mar '15 - 12:38pm

    Not the most flattering photo of Tim. Couldn’t you have got a better one?

  • If you go into coalition negotiations only being prepared to settle for a coalition you will give away far too much and get too little…..[The Lib Dem leadership should consider ] another arrangement other than coalition, including supply and confidence or something different entirely.

    Oh, for a time machine to take these thoughts back to 2010….If only Clegg, et al, might have heeded the old adage about… “Supping with a long spoon”

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