Tim Farron has double the backers he needs as nominations close for Lib Dem party leader

The favourite to succeed Nick Clegg has been formally nominated as a candidate by over 400 party members.

(Photo By Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron speaks at the party's conference in Glasgow. Photograph: Getty Images.)

Tim Farron MP, the favourite to succeed Nick Clegg, has double the nominations he needs to be a Lib Dem leadership candidate.

The rules of the Lib Dem leadership election require those running to have at least ten per cent of support from the parliamentary party (with 8 MPs, that’s not particularly hard), and the support of 200 party members in total, from at least 20 local parties.

Farron has been formally nominated as a candidate for the party’s next leader by over 400 party members from nearly 100 local Lib Dem parties across the country. Some of these include high-profile party figures, such as former MPs Simon Hughes, Jo Swinson, Duncan Hames, Martin Horwood, David Howarth, John Leech, Matthew Taylor, Sarah Teather, Alan Beith and Brian Cotter.

Current MPs backing him include Greg Mulholland, John Pugh and Mark Williams. He also recently secured the support of 110 Lib Dem PPCs who ran in the election.

Nominations for the Lib Dem leadership election close today at 4pm. Farron’s only rival is Norman Lamb, who served as a health minister in the coalition. He will also make the ballot paper.