The virtues of Marmite: Tim Farron’s advice on being a Liberal Democrat party leader

Welcome to a special re-run of a previous, but once again very relevant, edition of Never Mind The Bar Charts. It is from June 2019, which feels a long time ago now but the calendar says that was only 12 months ago. It was the time of the party’s last leadership election, and I did an interview with Tim Farron about his experience as leader of the Liberal Democrats. We focused on his advice for the next party leader as well as tips on what members should ask in hustings meetings.

Both Tim’s advice and tips are still very relevant, so here is that episode again. And do also take a listen to the episode I did recently with Tim Bale, where we also cooked up great hustings questions.

Hope you enjoy the repeat.

Show notes

• Jonathan Calder's David Steel versus John Pardoe categorisation for Liberal Democrat leadership contests.
• Paperclip design.
• Vince Cable's Stalin to Mr Bean moment at Prime Minister's Questions.
• The Lib Dems did indeed, as Tim Farron mentioned, once hit 4% in the polls after the 2015 election.
• Tim Farron's response to the European referendum result.
• You can watch the first Davey-Swinson hustings from the 2019 contest here. Here is Stephen Bush in the New Statesman on those hustings.
• Information about the 2020 leadership contest, including hustings where you can ask the questions mentioned in the show, is on the party website.

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