Norman Lamb confirms he will stand for the Liberal Democrat leadership

The former health minister was a close ally of the former leader Nick Clegg

The former health minister Norman Lamb is to stand for the Liberal Democrat leadership (Getty)

The former health minister Norman Lamb is to stand for the Liberal Democrat leadership, he has confirmed.

His move sets the scene for a two-way fight with Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem president, to rebuild the morale of a party reeling from its devastating election defeat.

Mr Lamb, the MP for Norfolk North, told ITV Anglia: “Yes, I intend to go for it. It’s a monumental task, but I am up for it.”

The other potential candidate among the party’s remaining eight MPs, the former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, has already ruled himself out.

Mr Lamb, who was a close ally of the former party leader Nick Clegg, has been an MP for 14 years and spent three years as a minister in the Coalition government.

Although he was popular with parliamentary colleagues, he is likely to be the outsider in the election as he is not as well-known as Mr Farron among activists and is considered a less charismatic speaker.

Nominations for the post will open on Wednesday. Candidates’ names will be put to the wider membership, with the winner announced on July 16 ahead of the party conference in September.

Mr Farron, who is preparing to confirm his candidacy, received a boost when the Lib Dems’ Scottish and Welsh leaders gave him their backing.

In a joint statement Wille Rennie and Kirsty Williams endorsed Mr Farron as the “right person to rebuild the party”.

They said: “We will wholeheartedly support him if he decides to put himself forward. Tim is a committed liberal, a brilliant communicator, an outstanding campaigner and an inspirational leader.”

One crumb of comfort the party is that it has seen an influx of 7,300 new members since its election rout to push its membership to more than 54,200.