Tim Farron is hoping the public chooses him as Prime Minister over a Conservative female leader.

However, when he was younger, he admired the first female Prime Minister so much he had a picture of her on his wall.

Although his political views today are far removed from Thatcherism, Mr Farron admitted he had a poster of Margaret Thatcher.

In an interview with ITV, he said: "I had a Carl Sagan photograph above my bed, who was of course the great, I guess the human voice of Nasa. I had pictures of strange sort of leftwing politicians.

"I remember I had a Mrs Thatcher picture. I had a John F Kennedy picture. I had a [Liberal leader] Jo Grimond picture.”

The Liberal Democrat leader hinted his admiration for the Conservative leader could have been the result of a teenage crush.

He said: "There was a young woman, let’s be careful what I say, who when I was about 15/16 who had a soft top Morris Minor, and she was a young Tory.

"And so I was somewhat taken aback by her, but frankly not by her politics."