Nick Clegg resigns: Lib Dems rush to replace leader with Tim Farron and Norman Lamb as potential candidates

Tim Farron emerged as the clear favourite to succeed Nick Clegg as the Liberal Democrats surveyed the wreckage of the party following its calamitous general election performance.

Candidates from the tip of Cornwall to the North of Scotland paid the price for the decision five years ago to enter into coalition with the Tories.

The party’s leadership, which believed that they could hold on to half of their 56 seats, watched in horror as their contingent of MPs was reduced to just eight, the smallest for four decades.

Mr Clegg acknowledged in an emotional resignation speech that his party had suffered a “catastrophic” defeat beyond his worst fears.

He said: “Clearly the results have been immeasurably more crushing and unkind than I could ever have feared. For that I must take responsibility.”

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His departure clears the way for Mr Farron, who defied the national trend to hold on to his seat in the Lake District with a convincing majority. He is firmly on the left of the party.

He was endorsed by the former party leader, Lord Steel, who protested that the Lib Dems had tacked too far to the right in coalition and needed to return to their left-of-centre roots.

Norman Lamb, the former Health Minister, a close ally of Mr Clegg, is also expected to put his name forward. He admitted the party faced a “long haul back” after its trouncing and conceded that the party had been involved in a “big experiment” by going into coalition. He said: “It’s a painful experience.”

Senior Lib Dems had been braced for heavy losses, but they were stunned by the scale of the rout as a succession of big names were ejected by the voters.

Simon Hughes, the former deputy leader and Justice Minister, was ousted by Labour from the Southwark and Old Bermondsey seat in south London which he captured in a famous by-election win 33 years ago.

The apparently unassailable 12,140 majority built up in Twickenham, south-west London, by Vince Cable, the former Business Secretary, was overturned by the Conservatives and the former Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, was defeated by the Tories in nearby Kingston and Surbiton.

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Mr Cable, who might have been a leadership contender if he had survived, blamed the “terrible night” on a campaign of fear by the Tories.

David Laws, the former Education Minister, and Sir Nick Harvey, the former Defence Minister, were among the prominent figures who fell victim to the anti-Lib Dem swing which swept the South-west of England.

As the party lost all but one of its 11 Scottish seats to the avalanche of support for the SNP, Charles Kennedy, its former leader, was defeated after 32 years as MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber.

The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, lost in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey by more than 10,000 votes.

Mr Alexander said following his defeat: “We should hold our heads high in terms of what we’ve achieved in the country, but clearly we have a lot of rebuilding to do. The flame of Highland liberalism will keep burning and our job is to make it burn brighter in the years to come.”

Jo Swinson, the former Business Minister, who had been talked of as a potential future leader, was ousted in Dunbartonshire East. Michael Moore, the former Scotland Secretary, trailed in a distant third in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.

Overnight, the party lost the majority of its heavyweight Commons figures and now has the same number of MPs as Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.

Underlining the scale of the defeat, more than half of Lib Dem candidates lost their deposits by failing to win 5 per cent support, leaving the party £170,000 out of pocket.

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Overall it won just under 8 per cent of the vote, losing almost two-thirds of support it gained in the 2010 election ahead of its decision to enter coalition with the Tories.

As the results were declared, party workers in London and travelling with Mr Clegg were close to tears. Last night they were drowning their sorrows in a London pub – five years after they were toasting their successes with champagne.

One source said: “Everyone is very shocked and coming to terms with it. We didn’t expect it to be anything like as bad as it turned out to be.”

In an email to party members yesterday, Lord Ashdown, who chaired the Lib Dem election campaign, said: “These will be tough days ahead for our party, and they could be tough times for our country too.

“But Liberal Democrat resilience has battled through time and time again, and I genuinely believe that, while diminished in Parliament, our voice will be heard again and is needed now more than ever.”

The former Downing Street Lib Dem adviser, Sean Kemp, said: “They are really up against it. They are almost back to square one – like in Paddy Ashdown’s time with a small number of MPs. They have got to follow that template again, but it will be a long slog.

“It will have to start with energising the members and seeing what council seats they can target next year – they mustn’t let themselves vanish off the stage.”

Five years after his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg is about to become a backbencher.

Were the Lib Dems in a position of strength, he would probably consider pursuing a career outside the Commons. An obvious choice would be putting his language skills to use in Brussels where he cut his political teeth at the European Commission and as an MEP. But that option appears not to be open as he would have to resign as Sheffield Hallam’s MP, forcing a by-election that would surely result in another damaging defeat for the Lib Dems.

The ex-leader therefore faces the depressing prospect of biding his time for five years, although he will campaign vigorously for Britain to remain in the European Union when the question is put to the test by David Cameron in 2017. He could decide to speak out on subjects of interest, such as foreign affairs and education, but will be careful to avoid controversy for fear of appearing to undermine his successor.

One possibility that publishers would relish is Mr Clegg telling the inside story of life within the Coalition. But for the moment he will be in no mood to do anything other than to take a long break.

Tim Farron

Just eight Liberal Democrats survived the party’s massacre at the hands of the electors and from those paltry ranks activists will have to select Nick Clegg’s successor – and of those, the obvious frontrunner is Tim Farron, the Lib Dems’ former president, who is on the left of the party and was a barely coded critic of the party’s proximity to the Tories in Coalition. His leadership would mark a clear break with the Clegg era and usher in an attempt to rebuild the shattered and demoralised party. Mr Farron will also be able to point to his impressive 8,949 majority in Westmorland and Lonsdale as evidence of his ability to connect with voters in the toughest of times.

Norman Lamb

The affable former health minister is also likely to throw his hat in the ring after holding on in Norfolk North by a relatively comfortable margin of 4,043.

Mr Lamb would be a continuity candidate and would be likely to win the backing of many senior party figures.

Alistair Carmichael

The former Scotland Secretary could be an outside contender. He was the only Lib Dem north of the border to retain his seat, resisting the SNP tide in Orkney and Shetland.

Others

The other Lib Dems who survived Thursday’s cull apart from Mr Clegg – Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland, Tom Brake from the Greater London seat of Carshalton and Wallington, Southport MP John Pugh and the sole Welsh MP, Mark Williams for Ceredigion – are less established and are certain to focus on their constituencies.

Nigel Morris