Lib Dem leader’s resignation raises critical questions

The resignation of Tim Farron speaks about faith, secularism and British society today, writes HA Hellyer

Liberal Democrat Party leader Tim Farron speaks to suporters and the press in London. Chris J Ratcliffe / Getty Images

When an observer and analyst of Arab politics considers British politics to now be something of a “whirlwind”, you know that things are moving quite fast in the UK.

In the midst of that commotion, every so often something happens that is indicative of wider issues within society. One such event was the resignation of Tim Farron, the leader of the UK’s Liberal Democrat party and what it says about faith, secularism and British society today is quite instructive.

In his resignation speech, Mr Farron made it clear that he felt he was personally unable to serve as leader of a liberal, progressive political party and be consistent with his own religious beliefs at the same time.

This followed a series of media examinations of his beliefs – not his policy prescriptions, but his religious beliefs. On policy, Mr Farron’s record was quite normal for a Liberal Democrat. But he was pressed on whether or not he thought homosexual acts were “sinful”. And while he tried to avoid answering for a while, he eventually said they weren’t. Evidently, it seems he felt uncomfortable with the whole experience, to the point he resigned as head of the Liberal Democrats after the election, despite increasing the party’s share of the vote.

A number of different conservatives found that episode rather troubling and it is disturbing that a personal belief that does not have bearing on policy or legislation is a source of such controversy. If Mr Farron was looking to introduce legislation pertaining to homosexual acts, that would be one thing, but he wasn’t. He obviously had what is an entirely consistent belief of the Abrahamic faiths, and beyond them, when it comes to homosexual actions and sin.

Sexual relations out of marriage between men and women are probably also defined as sinful by very many people. How does that matter to policy, unless people make it matter? Peering in the windows of people’s souls is not particularly edifying at the best of times – and probably even more so when it comes to a secular democracy. What was important about Mr Farron was his record, not his privately held beliefs about sin.

Yet, at the same time, it’s rather obtuse for conservative Christians in the UK to complain about this episode as evidence of anti-Christian sentiment, if they don’t recognise the much wider problem of anti-religious sentiment. The real issue in that regard isn’t about Christianity at all – it’s about Islam and Muslims. Tragically, we’ve seen in recent days how that type of anti-religion sentiment – this time, expressed in purely anti-Muslim and Islamophobic terms – can result in deadly violence, as it did in Finsbury Park.

What sort of reaction was forthcoming from the same conservatives who were unhappy about Mr Fallon quitting when the Labour candidate to be London mayor, Sadiq Khan, was being attacked with anti-Muslim undertones? What has their stance been when Islamophobia has increased daily in our country?

On the contrary, far too many of these same conservatives, who are deeply concerned about a “cultural war” against conservative Christians in the UK, are engaged in a cultural war of their own. Far too many of them make no bones about their deep antipathy and even bigotry towards Islam at large and Muslims en masse and openly call for a cultural war against that community and religion. A community that already suffers from a great deal of Islamophobia is a tiny minority, and which is composed hardly of the most powerful members of our society.

It is probably a small proportion of the kind of cultural war that is being waged on Muslims in the UK that conservative Christians feel on a regular basis. And even against the backdrop of it being a tiny proportion, Christian Britons are hardly in a delicate position: they are part of the majority and on average far better off in terms of the economy and social advancement.

To put it plainly, if it is tough for the likes of Mr Farron and others who feel the secularist pressures against religion in society, one can only imagine how it must be for Muslims. They have to deal not only with a sometimes illiberal kind of secularism at play, but with Islamophobia more specifically, racial prejudice and a slew of other demographic markers that come from being part of the working class.

As some in the UK rightly raise alarm bells about the lack of depth to society’s genuine liberalism due to the experience of Mr Farron, we ought to remember that those bells should ring a lot louder for other communities. Otherwise, we’re just being hypocritical.

Dr HA Hellyer is a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington and the Royal United Services Institute in ­London

On Twitter: @hahellyer