This Friday will mark three weeks until the Liberal Democrats have a new leader. Other than the many visits and hustings he’s doing to meet as many party members as possible, this Friday evening, 6.30pm-8pm, Tim’s also doing an online Q&A live via webcam. I’d highly recommend signing up, and you can do so via this link.

In this election, I am proud to back Tim Farron to take the party forward and get us back to our winning ways. Why do I trust Tim to do that? Simply, because it’s what he’s always done. It takes a solid campaigner to end 95 years of Tory hold on a constituency- that’s what Tim did when he won Westmorland & Lonsdale for us in 2005, the same year I was elected for Leeds North West.

He may have won by just 267 votes, but in the strongest possible endorsement of his campaigning skills, in 2010 he turned his majority into a massive 12,264 votes. And even in last month’s very difficult general election for the party, he was still able to secure over half the vote in his constituency. That’s the sort of campaigner who I know will help us start picking up council seats again, so we can rebuild to win more parliamentary seats in 2020. The new Leader’s job will clearly be to rebuild the party and make us a strong third force again, winning seats at all levels and ensuring we are a strong liberal voice in British politics.

Nevertheless, if you’re undecided and want to know more (or even if you just fancy chatting to Tim!), do sign up for Friday’s online Q&A. I’m proud to back Tim Farron to become our next Leader- I hope he’ll have your support too.