It came after a number of senior Liberal Democrat figures had visited Mr Farron to try to persuade him to step down in the wake of the party’s disappointing Election results, increasing its number of MPs by just three, to 12. Mr Farron resigned as party leader on Wednesday, on the grounds that ‘remaining faithful to Christ’ was incompatible with leading his party. After weeks of dodging the question, he eventually said it was not a sin, but not before his stalling had infuriated many pro-gay party members.
His complaint to the party’s compliance officer, David Allworthy, came soon after married Mr Farron, a devout Christian, had been embroiled in controversy on the campaign trail over whether he regarded homosexuality as a ‘sin’. Mr Cooke, 33, had starred in films titled Double Pleasure, SoldierBoy and SpyBoy.Įmbarrassingly, just eight months before he made the complaint, Cooke – who chaired the party’s LGBT+ campaign wing – was pictured with his arm around Farron at the party’s annual conference in September last year, smiling and giving the thumbs-up as they drank together. Chris Cooke (right) complained to party managers in the middle of the Election campaign, raising unfounded claims about Mr Farron’s personal conduct Mr Farron (left) resigned as party leader on Wednesday, on the grounds that ‘remaining faithful to Christ’ was incompatible with leading his party.