These have been quite exciting and perhaps even traumatic times in the last few years for Timothy James Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdadale and formerly leader of the Liberal Democrat Party. Having been elected as the member of parliament in 2005 and re-elected in 2010 2015 & 2017 and being selected as Party Leader 2015-17.
Tim was born in Preston in Lancashire and attended Newcastle University where he gained a BA in Politics in 1992 In his early life and student years he will admit to being interested in a cross section of British politics and while at Newcastle, became President of the University Union Society also being elected to the National Union of Students National Executive. Having previously joined the Liberal Democratic Party at the age of sixteen.
Prior to his success in 2005 he made his first appearance in the political arena by contesting North West Durham in 1992 finishing third to Labour and the Conservatives. Then served upon Lancashire County Council 1993-2000 and also as a councilor for Leyland Central Ward on South Ribble Borough Council 1995-1999. His next attempt was the marginal South Ribble constituency seat in 1997 General Election in which he again finished in third place. He was also the Liberal Democrat candidate for the North West Region in the 1999 European Parliamentary Elections.
In 2001 Farron contested the Westmorland and Lonsdale seat of the Conservative Tim Collins for the first time, coming second but in the process greatly reducing the Conservative majority. Between 2004-2008 he served as the councilor for Milnthorpe on the South Lakeland District Council.
It was during and after this time he established himself in the hearts and minds of the people of South Lakeland and became the seemingly tireless worker for and on behalf of the voting public. From fighting to preserve the future of the threatened Westmorland General Hospital and championing local housing schemes, to more simple and mundane problems like helping people to get their bins emptied.
In 2005 once again he contested the Conservative seat held by Tim Collins and this time won by a narrow margin of 267 seats, taking a seat which had previously been held by the Conservatives for over 100 years. In 2010 this was increased to a majority of 12,264 with his power base now being firmly established. Also in 2010 he tried and failed to gain the position of Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, narrowly losing to Simon Hughes by 20 votes. He then tried and succeeded in winning the position of President of the Liberal Democrats.
In 2015 he became one of only eight Liberal Democrats to win election and later replaced the then party leader Nick Clegg.
For the 2017 Elections, he had to fight a difficult campaign facing many detractors and people disputing and even deriding the party manifesto with such claims as the intended plans to legalise the use of cannabis and also brothels, and the party's Pro-Europe stance. However he held his seat with a reduced majority and increased the party's seats from 9 to 12 with a reduced number of votes. Afterwards he declared he would step down as Leader of the Party, because he; "had become torn between living as a faithful christian and serving as a political leader."
He remains the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale.
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