Care Minister to bid for Lib Dem leadership

By The Press Association12th May 2015News EnglandGovernment / Politics, Leadership, News England

Norman Lamb has confirmed he will be standing for the Lib Dem leadership.

Mr Lamb – who became MP for North Norfolk in 2001 and was health and social care minister under the coalition – confirmed the decision last night.

The 57-year-old has been widely tipped as a frontrunner to replace Nick Clegg but is the first to declare his intentions.

Mr Lamb is one of just eight Lib Dem MPs remaining after polling 19,299 during the general election – a majority of 4,043. This was down from a 2010 majority of 11,626.

Speaking after the victory, the married father-of-two who lives in Norwich, said he was “grateful” for the faith his constituents had shown in him but said it was a “bruising night” for the party.

Watford-born former employment lawyer Mr Lamb first stood for election in North Norfolk in 1992 and again in 1997 before finally being elected four years later.

Speaking to ITV Anglia, Mr Lamb described the leadership as a “monumental task”.

He added: “I think we’ve got a lot of learning to do and we’ve got to understand where we went wrong.

“I think we did a lot of good things in government that we should be very proud of – cutting tax for people on low pay, money we invested in children from poorer backgrounds and their schools – these are really important things that will make a big difference in time but we didn’t communicate that very well.

“I suspect in the next five years, with the Conservatives on their own, people might start to see what a good restraining influence we were and also some of the very progressive policies that we actually achieved in government .”