Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron announced his resignation last night saying he felt “remaining faithful to Christ” was incompatible with leading his party.
Farron was repeatedly pressed during the general election over his personal beliefs on issues including homosexuality.
“From the very first day of my leadership, I have faced questions about my Christian faith. I’ve tried to answer with grace and patience. Sometimes my answers could have been wiser.
The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader,” he said in a televised statement.
“To be a political leader – especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 – and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me.”
Farron, who said he was “passionate about defending the rights and liberties of people who believe different things to me”, hit back at some of the close scrutiny of him during the campaign, which saw him grilled repeatedly on questions such as whether he believed homosexual sex was a sin.
“I seem to be the subject of suspicion because of what I believe and who my faith is in. In which case we are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society,” he said.
Cross-bench peer, Lord Alton, said this morning that he admired Farron for making the choice, but that he should never have been “forced” to make it.
The Liberal Democrat party, he said, was a party with strong Christian foundations. This tradition, he writes, has subsequently been ridiculed by many members who have been “implacable in their hostility” toward faith schools and campaigned for policies, such as abortion.
“Inevitably, this has made it a hostile place for people of Faith,” he writes.
“It is ironic that a Party, which I joined as a teenager, because of its belief in conscience, human rights and free speech, has morphed into something so narrow and intolerant that, in resigning, its leader says "we are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society" and has been forced to choose between his Faith and his Party,” he continues.
Farron’s resignation follows that of one of his home affairs spokesman Lord Brian Paddick. Lord Paddick, formerly one of the country's most senior gay policemen, said he felt unable to continue in his role because of Mr Farron's views on "various issues".
Several senior figures in the party had visited Farron in recent days to attempt to persuade him to step down, reports the Daily Telegraph, though he was initially reluctant.
Farron said he would serve as leader until the summer recess, and then trigger a leadership election.
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