Tim Farron has revealed he decided to quit as Liberal Democrat leader two weeks into the election campaign.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live’s Emma Barnett, Farron said he decided he could not reconcile being leader of the party with his Christian faith.
“I made the decision about two weeks into the election campaign,” he said.
“I thought there isn’t a way forward out of this without me either compromising or just causing damage to the party in the long run.”
At the start of the election, Farron faced repeated questions about whether he believed gay sex was a sin.
Speaking to the BBC today, Farron said while he made the decision to quit as the campaign was just getting underway, he did not tell anyone else.
“I kind of thought, right you’ve got to put that into a drawer, don’t talk to anybody else about it, get on and do as good a job as you can during the election,” he said.
Farron said in his two years as party leader he had achieved much of what he wanted. “My job was to save the party,” he said. “The Liberal Democrats still exist and we’re moving forward.”
Vince Cable, the former business secretary, is set to be elected Farron’s successor as he is the only candidate in the running.