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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/sep/15/tim-farron-hijacked-lib-dems-with-his-beliefs-book-claims
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Tim Farron hijacked Lib Dems with his beliefs, book claims | Tim Farron hijacked Lib Dems with his beliefs, book claims |
| (5 days later) | |
| The full extent of senior Liberal Democrats’ exasperation with their former leader Tim Farron’s handling of questions about homosexuality and abortion will be revealed in a book about last year’s general election. | The full extent of senior Liberal Democrats’ exasperation with their former leader Tim Farron’s handling of questions about homosexuality and abortion will be revealed in a book about last year’s general election. |
| Philip Cowley and Denis Kavanagh’s The British General Election of 2017, the latest in a long-running series, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan on 27 September. | Philip Cowley and Denis Kavanagh’s The British General Election of 2017, the latest in a long-running series, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan on 27 September. |
| It details the meltdown at Lib Dem HQ when a campaign the party had hoped would be about blocking Brexit became increasingly hijacked by the personal views of Farron, a Christian with conservative beliefs who resigned after the campaign, saying he had struggled to reconcile politics with “remaining faithful to Christ”. | It details the meltdown at Lib Dem HQ when a campaign the party had hoped would be about blocking Brexit became increasingly hijacked by the personal views of Farron, a Christian with conservative beliefs who resigned after the campaign, saying he had struggled to reconcile politics with “remaining faithful to Christ”. |
| As the Lib Dems prepare to gather for their annual conference, extracts released to the Guardian recall Farron clashing with advisers over the issue of abortion, as they prepped him for a televised debate. | As the Lib Dems prepare to gather for their annual conference, extracts released to the Guardian recall Farron clashing with advisers over the issue of abortion, as they prepped him for a televised debate. |
| “Farron was asked a question about whether abortion was morally wrong, at which point he started to equivocate. The former [Nick] Clegg adviser James McGrory was playing [former Ukip leader] Paul Nuttall (he had a great time and made a much more effective Paul Nuttall than the real Paul Nuttall), but at this point he broke out of character and exploded: ‘For fuck’s sake, you just say no – it’s not fucking wrong.’” | “Farron was asked a question about whether abortion was morally wrong, at which point he started to equivocate. The former [Nick] Clegg adviser James McGrory was playing [former Ukip leader] Paul Nuttall (he had a great time and made a much more effective Paul Nuttall than the real Paul Nuttall), but at this point he broke out of character and exploded: ‘For fuck’s sake, you just say no – it’s not fucking wrong.’” |
| On homosexuality, advisers repeatedly attempted to “come up with forms of words that he would be willing to say and which would resolve the issue”, Cowley and Kavanagh write, “only for Farron to change his mind,” usually after attending his evangelical church. | On homosexuality, advisers repeatedly attempted to “come up with forms of words that he would be willing to say and which would resolve the issue”, Cowley and Kavanagh write, “only for Farron to change his mind,” usually after attending his evangelical church. |
| “He’d travel back to [his constituency] Westmorland, where things were not going well, and he’d go to church and he’d realise how much they mattered to him, and how much it mattered to them, and he’d come back down to London on Monday and everything we thought we’d agreed would have unravelled,” one tells the authors. | “He’d travel back to [his constituency] Westmorland, where things were not going well, and he’d go to church and he’d realise how much they mattered to him, and how much it mattered to them, and he’d come back down to London on Monday and everything we thought we’d agreed would have unravelled,” one tells the authors. |
| Farron had had high hopes that Labour’s decision to accept the result of the Brexit referendum, after which Jeremy Corbyn whipped his MPs to back article 50, would allow the Lib Dems to surge ahead in the polls – and perhaps even to “do a Trudeau” and leapfrog the opposition. | Farron had had high hopes that Labour’s decision to accept the result of the Brexit referendum, after which Jeremy Corbyn whipped his MPs to back article 50, would allow the Lib Dems to surge ahead in the polls – and perhaps even to “do a Trudeau” and leapfrog the opposition. |
| But by the closing stage of the campaign, at focus groups carried out with putative Lib Dem voters, “the only thing that got mentioned was homosexuality”, one of those who organised the groups told Cowley and Kavanagh. “People said: ‘That doesn’t sound very libera,’ and you wanted to scream.” | But by the closing stage of the campaign, at focus groups carried out with putative Lib Dem voters, “the only thing that got mentioned was homosexuality”, one of those who organised the groups told Cowley and Kavanagh. “People said: ‘That doesn’t sound very libera,’ and you wanted to scream.” |
| On Brexit, the issue that had helped the Lib Dems to defeat the Tories in the London constituency of Richmond Park just six months earlier, “the door had closed”. | On Brexit, the issue that had helped the Lib Dems to defeat the Tories in the London constituency of Richmond Park just six months earlier, “the door had closed”. |
| The responses Lib Dem campaigners were recording from voters on doorsteps in the final stage of the campaign were indicating they were at risk of losing the leader’s own seat. | The responses Lib Dem campaigners were recording from voters on doorsteps in the final stage of the campaign were indicating they were at risk of losing the leader’s own seat. |
| Those calculations resulted in an experienced organiser transferred from his predecessor Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency to Farron’s Lake District patch to help out on polling day. In the end, it was the former deputy prime minister’s seat that was lost. | Those calculations resulted in an experienced organiser transferred from his predecessor Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency to Farron’s Lake District patch to help out on polling day. In the end, it was the former deputy prime minister’s seat that was lost. |
| Concerns about whether Westmoreland and Lonsdale could be at risk also complicated the travel arrangements for the party’s bright yellow battle bus, the book reveals. | Concerns about whether Westmoreland and Lonsdale could be at risk also complicated the travel arrangements for the party’s bright yellow battle bus, the book reveals. |
| “Farron believed that one reason he was doing badly locally was that local voters saw him as having deserted them to go and be a big-name politician in London. He therefore did not want to be seen in the campaign bus going into or out of the constituency, so the party had to arrange for the bus to stop outside the constituency boundary, at which point he was transferred into a car, complicating an already tortuous set of travel arrangements.” | “Farron believed that one reason he was doing badly locally was that local voters saw him as having deserted them to go and be a big-name politician in London. He therefore did not want to be seen in the campaign bus going into or out of the constituency, so the party had to arrange for the bus to stop outside the constituency boundary, at which point he was transferred into a car, complicating an already tortuous set of travel arrangements.” |
| Ultimately, the Lib Dems ended up with 12 MPs – just two more than at the start of the year; though they gained some constituencies, including Vince Cable’s in Twickenham. Cable, who took over the leadership from Farron unopposed, is expected to step down before the next general election. | Ultimately, the Lib Dems ended up with 12 MPs – just two more than at the start of the year; though they gained some constituencies, including Vince Cable’s in Twickenham. Cable, who took over the leadership from Farron unopposed, is expected to step down before the next general election. |
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