Tim Farron admits he misled the public about his views on gay sex

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has admitted that he misled the public when he said he didn’t believe gay sex is sinful.

Mr Farron, who served as leader of the Liberal Democrats until 2017, was toppled by a row over gay sex – as the evangelical Christian was repeatedly probed about his beliefs.

For weeks during the General Election campaign, Mr Farron evaded questions in interviews about whether he believed gay sex is sinful.

At the height of the row, he attempted to salvage his reputation in a BBC interview, telling the broadcaster that he did not believe gay sex to be a sin.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

He had told the BBC: “I don’t believe gay sex is a sin… if people have got the wrong opinion of what I think of those issues, it’s right to correct it.”

Mr Farron quit as Lib Dem leader a few weeks later, after facing an internal party coup.

In an interview with Premier Christian Radio today, Mr Farron admitted that his statements to the BBC were not true.

Asked if he felt under pressure to change his message in the BBC interview, he said: “Yeah. The bottom line is, of course I did.

“There are things I said, including that, that I regret. There was a sense in which I felt, I’ve got to get this off my table.

“There was a General Election and all they wanted to do was talk about my Christian beliefs. I foolishly and wrongly attempted to push it away by giving an answer that frankly was not right.”