Lembit Opik has said Tim Farron couldn't commit himself to answering questions about his views on homosexuality.
The former Liberal Democrat leader found himself in a spot of controversy after he'd refused to say if gay sex was wrong.
For Farron, his faith became a core focus of his General Election campaign. For this reason, he stood down as the leader of the party on Wednesday, saying it had become a "subject of suspicion."
Opik, the former MP for Montgomeryshire, took part in a discussion on Farron's resignation with Jon Holmes and Nick Spencer, the author of The Mighty and the Almighty: How Political Leaders Do God.
He said: "I was astounded yesterday when he said this as his reason to stand down.
"Tim just didn’t deal with it. He couldn’t say ‘I think gay sex is a sin’ to let people know where he stood.
"But he couldn’t commit himself in either direction, so there was a presentation issue."
Nick shared his views on the subject by saying Farron must have felt a certain element of pressure by the line of questioning.
He told Jon: "These people [politicians] are representatives, politics is messy and we want them to believe in something with a commitment.
"They also have to represent a party and consituency, so they have to juggle so much.
"Tim Farron must have felt the attention paid to a specific part of his Christianity was getting in the way of everything. "
Listen above.
Comments