So Tim has made it to the top, Farron height I guess you could call it. So congratulations go to my ex-Newcastle University fellow student who had his first taste of Parliamentary campaigning in Hexham when I was candidate for the 1992 general election. And commiserations to Norman Lamb who came from nowhere to deny Tim the landslide victory that some predicted. Landslides are bad for politics. Leaders need to take the whole party with them. That means Tim will need to appeal to the substantial minority that did not vote for him.
I was phoned today by Radio 4's PM programme to ask me to do an interview with Ross Hawkins about Tim's university years. It had to be at 4pm from the studio in Newcastle, after full council in Gateshead this afternoon. You can hear the interview on this link. I'm about 34 minutes into the programme. The interview started with a brief discussion about my self-sufficiency lifestyle, none of which, hardly surprisingly, made it to the final cut. The interview was another return to the late 80s and early 90s and my memories of Tim's fashion-challenged appearance.
The BBC had offered to book me a taxi to get to the studio and back home but I turned down the offer. I was due in Gateshead anyway so would have the land rover with me. I wish now I'd taken up the offer. I was about 1km short of my home village of Sunniside after the interview when the radiator blew. I had to pull off the road and park next to the old orchard at Fugar Bar, then walk the rest of the journey home, calling at local garage near my house on the way. I left the keys with them and I noticed tonight, when out dealing with my livestock at 10pm, that the land rover had been moved to the garage. I will get the bad news in the morning. I have no religion but I know Tim has. I am left wondering if his god took revenge on me for mentioning his infamous pink dungarees and Lenin style cap on the radio!
