Tim Farron, pictured, has vowed to bring the Lib Dem party 'back from the dead' Embattled Nick Clegg faced a dramatic leadership challenge last night after a top Lib Dem MP vowed to bring the party ‘back from the dead’. Former Lib Dem President Tim Farron savaged Deputy Prime Minister Clegg’s U-turn on university tuition fees and said the party had been ‘tarnished’ by the Coalition with David Cameron. Farron, a bitter Lib Dem foe of Clegg, said the party needed a tough new leader like ex-marine Paddy Ashdown who rescued it from a similar crisis in the 1980s. He said he had the ‘vision and never say die’ spirit needed to repair the slump in Lib Dem fortunes under Clegg. Left-winger Farron, hot favourite to succeed Clegg if, as expected, the Lib Dems flop in the Election, threw down the gauntlet in an interview with The Mail on Sunday. Clegg’s panicking allies have launched a ‘stop Farron’ campaign in a last-ditch attempt to stop him taking over after the Election. But speaking ahead of the party’s spring conference in Liverpool this weekend, Farron made it clear he is determined to replace Clegg. He brushed aside claims by the Clegg camp that he is a ‘sanctimonious, God-bothering, treacherous little s***’, compared Clegg’s leadership to the Lib Dems’ ‘near death’ in the 1980s and said voters would never forgive him for his tuition fees somersault. For a committed Christian, it is surprising how much hatred Farron generates among fellow top Lib Dems. There is no love lost between Farron and his main leadership rival, Minister and Clegg ally Norman Lamb. Clegg, Lamb and co swallowed their Lib Dem pride and principles, at least on occasion, for ministerial jobs and limos in the Coalition.Meanwhile, Farron, refused a Government post by Clegg, could grandstand from the sidelines, voting against the bedroom tax and tuition fees. Farron’s supporters in the Lib Dem sandal-wearing brigade say he is ‘untainted’ and see ‘Saint Tim’ as a saviour. He became a Christian at 18, when marooned in a house in rainy Singapore on a trip with his mum. ‘There was nothing to blinkin’ read and I read this weird-looking book on God. It was life-changing,’ he explains. Farron’s conversation is peppered with ‘blinkins’ and ‘bloomins’, adding to a boyish, Tintin cartoon air of wide-eyed enthusiasm. The book he stumbled on said the Bible was true. And from that moment, Tim believed every word. Literally. He thinks God knows everything. ‘Every hair on your head is numbered,’ he says, without blinking. God knows every hair on his head? ‘Yeah.’ Farron believes that Nick Clegg, pictured, blew the trust of the voters by his u-turn on tuition fees . Mr Farron, pictured, said neither of the two main parties should assume the Lib Dems will prop them up . He scoffs at the idea of a ‘half-baked distant God – either he created every bloomin’ atom in the entire universe or he didn’t’. He derides those who believe in ‘some kind of part-time, low-wattage God’.Similarly, he believes Heaven and Hell really exist. Heaven is ‘a place where there’s no more tears, no more crying, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death’. It exists as a physical entity? ‘Yeah. It’s what the Bible tells me.’ His Christian beliefs made him agonise before dropping his opposition to gay marriage. Lib Dem cynics are less generous: they say voting against it would have been fatal to his leadership hopes in a party known for its strong pro-gay rights stance. State-educated northerner Farron, 44, has none of the expensive suits and modulated vowels of private schoolboy Clegg. It is hard to see him laughing and joking in the Downing Street Rose Garden with Cameron. It’s hard to see him in No 10 at all. Farron dismisses Clegg’s claim that he had to back tuition fees to save the Coalition. ‘Integrity is important. You must not only keep your word but be seen to keep your word. You can say no,’ he says emphatically. It was ‘obvious’ the Lib Dems would be ‘tarnished’ by it and voters would not forgive them. ‘In 2010, many people said: I am not voting for you because of the Lib Lab pact (in the 1970s) when I was seven years old. Just think what going into coalition with the Tories will do to our brand over the next generation.’ Clegg allies are quick to point out Farron voted for the Coalition deal. He insists he has been ‘loyal’ to his ‘friend Nick’. Far from knifing Clegg, he says he ‘rode to the rescue’ in several key party conference votes. ‘It sounds really up myself but … the day was saved.’ Farron, pictured, said he regrets signing a letter with fellow Lib Dem MPs to force former leader Charles Kennedy's resignation claiming he was acting on the advice of an un-named senior party politician . But in a clear dig at Clegg, Farron makes it clear if there is another hung Parliament after the Election, and he is in charge, it will take more than a swanky limo to make him jump into bed with the Tories or Labour. ‘If you believe what really matters is that ministerial car, you will give way to the other side more than you should. We are curating the party of Gladstone,’ he declares grandly. ‘We must not crash it by making short-term decisions in any coalition agreement.’ If the party makes too many concessions in the crucial few days after the Election, ‘whoever’s leader, whether it’s Nick or somebody else… we’re dead’. Farron portrays himself as a heroic, visionary Paddy Ashdown-style Lib Dem leader-in-waiting, name-checking him a dozen times during the interview. When Lord Ashdown led the party it was the third force in politics. Now it trails behind Ukip and the Greens with up to half its 57 MPs in danger of losing their seats in May. Farron says he will rebuild the Lib Dems with the same ‘absolute bloody-minded refusal to lie down and die’ spirit displayed by Ashdown, a square-jawed ex-Royal Marine trained to kill with his bare hands. It is hard to see slight ‘Tintin Farron’ in the same vein. ‘I’ve been paint-balling a couple of times,’ he quips with a gap-toothed grin. He is not the only Farron preparing for the limelight: ‘Blinkin’ marvellous’ wife Rosie is ready to help him. The couple have four children and live in Westmorland in the Lake District, where Farron is a local MP. ‘Rosie might have to do some telly at some point. She gave a Mothers’ Union talk last week – her first-ever public speech.’ Farron confesses he is ashamed of signing a letter with fellow Lib Dem MPs in 2006 which forced Charles Kennedy to resign as leader. He claims he was ‘persuaded’ to do it by unnamed ‘older MPs’. Farron was too discreet to mention it, but it is a matter of record that Clegg, four years his senior, was among the signatories. For all his claims of loyalty, those who know Farron say he will have no regrets if Clegg resigns. And Farron’s sandal-wearing fans will be happy. Does Farron own any sandals? ‘Only for pratting around on holiday – and never in the UK,’ he laughs.
Tim Farron said Nick Clegg should not have u-turned on tuition fees . He said the Lib Dems will be hit by that decision at the next election . Mr Farron said the party will not simply prop up another coalition after May .