I joined the Liberal Party the day of Margaret Thatcher’s first victory. I will be leaving its successor party the day after I return a spoiled ballot in the election for the next party leader.
As a party we have had our fights, our disagreements, and our debates. We have also proven that the strength of our shared commitments and ideals has been of a power that protects the very essence of what it means to be liberal and democratic.
One of my first committee appointments in the party offered the opportunity to work closely with Richard Wainwright, a devout Quaker. His faith guided him. At times, it made him uncomfortable. But, more often than not, his faith, which so few of us shared, offered him the impetus, the strength and, yes, the courage, to expect more of us than we often thought possible.
I worked in Liverpool on occasion with a Liberal city council that was helping re-shape that city. I was there the day of the Toxteth riots. Very soon thereafter, David Alton, our first MP from that city in so many years, and Eric Heffer, MP, sat down with Michael Heseltine and shape the only action plan I know of that caused Thatcher to have to admit that there was such a thing as society. Two of those men, Heffer and Alton, shared little. But they did share a faith and that faith shaped both of them in years of service that made the lives of so very many people so much better than it would otherwise have been.
Richard Wainwright and David Alton were not alone, but I worked with them well enough, and knew them well enough, to write what I did above with confidence.
And here’s the point: there came a time when David Alton’s faith left him so uncomfortable with LibDem policy that he left us. That was his right. That was at it should be. We debated policies, we talked issues, and the heart of liberalism was strong enough that our identity, our commitments to rights and opportunities grew and never wavered. There was a place for him until he could no longer call himself a liberal democrat.
I voted for Tim Farron for leader.
It was not an easy choice. Not because of his faith, but because Norman Lamb, too, was so terrific an option.
But I never doubted that Tim’s faith–which is not mine–would be a problem. To the contrary, I was sure it would be a strength. As it was. Tim did not back down.
When the smart money was on re-shaping our stance, on trimming and prevaricating, Tim stood up, with us and for us, committing us to being a liberal party: open, tolerant, united.
His words made it clear that was his, and our, commitment.
His actions made that clear.
Reeling from near electoral collapse, Tim made it clear that on our principles we would not bend. He made it clear that all-women lists had his full support. More than that, he expected them.
He made it clear that BME and other minorities must be an integral part of the party, part of the face, part of the heart, and part of the soul of the party.
Tim was clear that health care, education, housing were rights we would seek to secure for all.
Tim was clear that no religious test of any sort must ever determine how and where one lived or worked.
Tim made no concessions to the Mail or the Telegraph, and he challenged us and the country to stand up to hate and violence, to say that refugees must be welcomed here.
Tim spoke up against hate and bigotry whenever he saw it. Often first. Sometimes alone.
Tim opened up opportunities in the party and in the country.
And now some who would appoint themselves guardians of a party with a liberal tradition have determined that he must go.
Not for what he did. His votes were not, perhaps, ’perfect’, but whose are? They were darn near perfect, though.
Not for what he said. He spoke the truth in a pained and deeply humble way when he might have done better to dodge the question and say that faith and politics were not to be confused.
Not for what he did. Not for what he said, but for what others thought he believed.
Never has there been a clearer rejection of the very core principles upon which our party must stand or fall.
Tim stood for an open, tolerant party and country.
Others would have us be a closed, intolerant party.
I am an atheist. I am a liberal. I am a democrat. I will soon no longer be a Liberal Democrat.
* Chris Fauske is a member of the Liberal Democrats
