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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Chris Huhne’s resignation from the Cabinet was notable not only because it was the coalition’s third in less than two years but by how few political friends the former Energy Secretary appeared to have. For many Lib Dem members though he was their strongest voice in government, whether it was confronting the Chancellor or campaigning ferociously for AV. Well joining me from Kendal is his friend and Liberal Democrat President, Tim Farron. A very good morning to you, Mr Farron, as I was saying there, is this a blow to the Liberal Democrats in terms of fighting your corner in cabinet?

TIM FARRON: Well no, I mean obviously he is a huge loss to the government, both sides of it I have to say, because Chris Huhne’s an outstanding energy and climate change secretary and his departure has triggered plaudits from all sorts of groups, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace, this doesn’t normally happen when somebody in that position leaves it, Ed Miliband didn’t have that kind of tear jerking farewell from the Green groups when he left, so without a doubt Chris Huhne’s job in government has been an outstanding one that he has executed incredibly well but neither you nor me nor Chris is indispensable, that’s life isn’t it? We’re very sorry that he’s had to go, I want him to come back and I hope he will do in the relatively near future.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay, what about his severance pay at the moment? We understand he is in line for something like £17,000 for being a former Cabinet Minister. He campaigned against former Labour Cabinet Ministers taking their money in these straitened times when they lost power, do you think Mr Huhne should turn this down? He’s got plenty himself.

TIM FARRON: This is the first I’ve heard of it, to be honest with you, Dermot. I’m sure he will be consistent to his previous statements, I’ve no idea but at times like this, yes, it is important to take a lead but I think that’s a matter for Chris.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay, so life moves on, as you say, for the Liberal Democrats. Politically one of the next biggest battles coming up is in the House of Lords with the Health Bill going back there. Do the Liberal Democrats have any further amendments to make, as seems to be suggested or as Mr Clegg has said, you’re happy with the way it’s been reconfigured?

TIM FARRON: Well we are significantly happier with where it is now than it was twelve months ago. I mean when it was introduced it was a pretty appalling Bill, appalling because it shared so many characteristics with New Labour health reforms I’m afraid, the marketization of the health service, competition on price, things I know Andrew Lansley wanted to do, things that I know that the Labour party in government did, as you know as well and things the Liberal Democrats have prevented. It doesn’t mean that the Bill is perfect, by the way though and yes, I know that Shirley Williams and others in the Lords this week will be working very hard to make sure we get further concessions. This is not a Bill that the Liberal Democrats would have introduced if we’d been in power on our own but we’ve only got 8% of the seats, haven’t we? So what we’ve done is to prevent the worst excesses, we’ve stopped the emphasis on competition and put emphasis on quality instead. I guess my largest complaint is that it’s taken twelve months and it’s taken people’s eye off the ball when it comes to delivering health care at the chalk face. The doctors and nurses and paramedics out there deserve to be allowed to get on with their jobs really.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay but what are the further concessions you want to see?

TIM FARRON: Well a bunch of things about tightening up market rules, I want to make sure if there is any competition at all it has got to be competition on quality and not on price. I am always concerned that there should be greater democratic control of our health service, the Labour party completely failed on that front and we are just a few miles down the road from the hospital at Kendal where the heart unit was closed under a Labour government with no real consultation locally whatsoever. The Bill that we have at the moment improves democracy, much improved from what it used to be but it’s not sufficient, I would like it to be better. So there are a whole range of things that we’d like to improve. It is a complex, very, very complex Bill, it’s not nearly as black and white as some people are selling it as and as a result it can always be improved.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: And in terms of these Lib Dem policies, that distinctive voice we were talking about that Chris Huhne helped to articulate in Cabinet, we know that there are something like twenty days been scheduled for House of Lords reform in the next parliamentary session, is this really one of the most burning issues of our time?

TIM FARRON: Well if I was to wander around Milnthorpe Market or Kendal town centre, I would not be accosted by very many people telling me how desperately important it was that the Lords was reformed. Having said all that, isn’t it ludicrous that you’ve been talking to William Hague about many undemocratic countries overseas and here we are with half of our legislature being appointed and not democratically elected. So I know it’s not a sexy issue but it is unbelievably important if we’re going to have a democracy that is even remotely modern. How can we have a government that is even remotely legitimate under whoever’s banner it might be, if you have got half of our parliament appointed, some of whom basically inherited their places there? So yes, it is very important, it won’t be going on any of my leaflets because it’s not really a top campaigning issue but it doesn’t mean that it’s not utterly crucial to the future of our democracy and the Liberal Democrats are committed to making sure our democracy is at least dragged into the 20^th century.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: It’s a bit of a stretch though, comparing the House of Lords to some of those Middle East regimes I was talking about with the Foreign Secretary but …

TIM FARRON: Well if you’ve got a government that is not elected, that is a national embarrassment I would say, so it is something we should all be concerned about.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay but on the twenty days, twenty days discussing how to get a bit of growth into the economy, we’d understand that but twenty days of valuable parliamentary time, this is not the task …

TIM FARRON: There is a very simple answer and that is dinosaurs in the House of Lords and some dinosaurs in the House of Commons should just accept the need for democratic reform and we could get it done in a couple of days then.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay, Mr Farron, thank you very much indeed there.

TIM FARRON: Thank you.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Tim Farron, in scenic Cumbria there in the snow.