The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, has said he had a poster of Margaret Thatcher above his bed as a schoolboy but denied he had been a young Tory.

Farron said he had “all sorts of weird icons” as a schoolboy during an ITV programme in which one of his schoolfriends claimed the MP had an “I Love Maggie” sticker on his textbook.

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He hinted that the interest in the Conservatives had been the result of a teenage crush. “There was a young woman, let’s be careful what I say, who when I was about 15 or 16 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,” he tells Julie Etchingham during the first of ITV’s The Leader Interviews.

However, Farron, 46, said he did have a photograph of the former Tory prime minister in his bedroom. “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.”

During the programme, a schoolfriend of Farron revealed he had confided in the Lib Dem leader about his sexuality when they were teenagers. Farron has been dogged in recent weeks by questions about his views on homosexuality and abortion, given his Christian faith, though he has since said he does not believe gay sex to be a sin.

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The friend, Ian, whose surname was not revealed, told ITV: “Tim is probably my best friend. I’ve known him for over 30 odd years. He’s the first person I came out to as being gay when I was 19. He absolutely just took it in his stride; it’s never been an issue and he always absolutely makes me feel welcome and my own personal experience is that he isn’t homophobic and that he is absolutely liberal in his values.”

Farron said he was “genuinely moved that he trusted me”, adding: “I think most people believe that in politics and in all life people’s personal faith is just that and it is not right for us to force that on other people, not to be forced to be in a position where one has to talk about the intricate details of one’s faith.”

The Lib Dem leader also said he was in favour of “safe and legal” abortion, saying he “supports the law as things stand”.

Farron’s interview will air on Monday at 8pm, with subsequent programmes due to feature Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon, as well as leaders of the Greens, Ukip and Plaid Cymru.