A working class, northern, Council group leader, with a Liverpudlian accent is not exactly a description of your average Liberal Democrat.

Which is exactly why I wanted to conduct the first long form interview with our party’s leader in Liverpool, the man dubbed by the national press as ‘the sexiest politician in Britain,’ Councillor Carl Cashman.

So recently I caught the train up to the great city of Liverpool and spent a few hours with Carl.

I ask him about his vision for the city should he become City Council leader in 2027, his thoughts on the Coalition Government, where he stands ideologically in the Lib Dems, if he’ll run for Parliament, what the party must do better; the attention he gets for his looks, and more.

I hope you enjoy this insight to the man who, for my money, is just about the most interesting personality in the Lib Dems at present.

I began by asking about his background.

When I was younger I grew up in a council house, which is an upbringing that I was really fortunate (to have). I know some people might look down on that kind of upbringing but I absolutely cherished being in a council house and being brought up by my gran and granddad who gave me the morals I’ve got today.

So I’m really appreciative of that upbringing. Even though it wasn’t that we had a lot of money. Quite often gran and granddad would have a bag of chips and that would be tea. I don’t look back at that and think there was anything wrong with that. I look back on that quite fondly. That shaped me as a person.

One thing I can say is that Carl is the same off air as on, in private as on show whether interacting with the famous (in Liverpool, at least) Queen of Scotty Road, bar staff, his friends, and me.

What was his first ambition?

I always liked football. If you’d have asked me what I was going to be when I was a kid I’d have said I’d be a footballer, but that’s most people in Liverpool. I was alright but I probably wasn’t that level. Liverpool breeds good footballers so even people who aren’t going to make it tend to be quite good footballers.

We talked about his school days:

In school, I was a little bit head in the clouds. I always was capable and intelligent but I never really focused too much and I’ve always been a little bit of a dreamer in that sense. School for me was a little bit ‘can’t wait to get out of here’ and then after school it was not really knowing where to go. So I had a little period where, am I going to go to college, I didn’t take that. Am I going to go in full time work, I didn’t like that, then eventually I ended up going back into college and then on to university. So I stayed in Liverpool for uni and I absolutely loved it. It was a really exciting period. I ended up doing philosophy and politics and I actually enjoyed the philosophy a little bit more than the politics.

I think I’m a very deep thinking person. I think a lot of people in Liverpool are very creative and I’ve always thought of myself as a creative person so when I has the chance to explore the metaphysics and dive a little bit deeper into that I enjoyed it.

I’ll always remember in my first Metro Mayor debates (Labour’s) Steve Rotherham having a bit of a jibe and saying ‘we haven’t got enough time to philosophise on these issues, we’ve got to get down to work’ and it was a fun debate but I am that type of person. It works to my advantage in some ways, thinking about the issues that face Liverpool and the country as well.

In the next instalment tomorrow you can read about what brought Carl into the Lib Dems.

* Mathew Hulbert is a former Councillor, is a regular commentator on TV and Radio, and is Co-Host of the Political Frenemies podcast.