How will Tim Farron make sure the Lib Dems are heard?

When the Liberal Democrats voted for Tim Farron as their next leader, they didn’t know that the Labour party was going to elect Jeremy Corbyn. If they had known that, they might have been more tempted to go for Norman Lamb, the more centrist candidate in the race and the one with ministerial experience.

But Farron has adapted pretty well to the new, post-Corbyn landscape. His speech today contained plenty of pops at Labour for ‘abandoning serious politics, serious economics’ and choosing instead the ‘glory of self-indulgent opposition’. Farron, by contrast, tried to cast the Liberal Democrats as the party that is both competent and caring. He combined a defence of their record in coalition with an attack on the government for not doing enough on housing and the refugee crisis. It is quite clear that he’s pitching for those moderate, centre-left voters who will be unsettled by Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party.