Tim Farron is quitting as leader of the Liberal Democrats saying he cannot carry on the face of continuing questions over his Christian faith.
He said he had been torn between his religion and serving as a political leader.
"The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader," he said.
"A better, wiser person than me may have been able to deal with this more successfully, to have remained faithful to Christ while leading a political party in the current environment.
"To be a political leader - especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 - and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible's teaching, has felt impossible for me."
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