08:17 Thursday 16th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
DOTTY MCLEOD: Big political movement later on this afternoon. The new Leader of the Liberal Democrats is going to be chosen, Nick Clegg’s successor. Voting closed yesterday. There’s been a face-off between the party’s former President Tim Farron and ex-Minister Norman Lamb. I’m joined by our Political Correspondent Paul Rowley. Now Paul I know you’re a football fan. Can I have a score prediction please.
PAUL ROWLEY: Tim Farron three to two majority I would have thought. Three to two victory. I think he should win by about 60% of the vote. 40% to Norman Lamb. Tim Farron popular with the grass roots, what’s left of them after their annihilation at the General Election. His rival Norman Lamb much respected. He was a Minister in the last Government. maybe that’s a problem for him, because that’s possibly one of the reasons they were punished at the ballot box for going into coalition with the Conservatives. At the time Tim Farron was free to vote against his party on things like university tuition fees, which was such a damaging issue for them, and what became known as the bedroom tax. But whereas this is a party Dotty with fifty seven MPs when they entered Government, including when Julian Huppert was the MP for Cambridge. They’re now down to a rump of just eight of them, their lowest total since the Liberal Democrats were formed. Indeed you’ve got to go back to the General Election of 1970, the year Tim Farron was born incidentally, the year the Beatles split up, and I think the year that Cambridge United entered the Football League when it was worse than this. The old Liberal Party had just half a dozen seats under the late Jeremy Thorpe.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So you’ve been following the campaign. What’s it been like?
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