Scottish Liberal Democrat leader gets into a fight with a massive ram

Willie Rennie's vow to 'take the fight' to the opposition appears to have been taken literally by the well-built creature

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie appears to relish the fight with a ram (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

He will undoubtedly be the butt of jokes, but the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats escaped unharmed after getting into a fight with a rather large ram.

As party leader Tim Farron officially launched his party’s campaign in Manchester, Willie Rennie was forced to take the ram by the horns in a field in Fife.

The Member of the Scottish Parliament, was visiting Mill House farm in Kelty as he campaigned ahead of the Scottish local elections on 4 May.

But the election fight took on a literal turn as the solidly-built animal did not appear to want to play nicely with the Lib Dem leader.

The MSP, with farmer Stuart McDougall, gets close to the ram during a visit to Mill House farm in Kelty, Fife (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

The politician takes the ram by the horns as he campaigns in the Scottish local elections (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

This was not his first close encounter with a woolly beast. Back in 2015, Mr Rennie was photographed feeding a lamb just days before David Cameron was famously pictured nuzzling one.

And he had another memorable moment last year when a pair of pigs formed a close coalition in the background of an interview with the BBC.

The Lib Dem spent four years as the MP for Dunfermeline and West Fife between after a by-election in 2006 until he lost the seat to labour at the 2010 General Election. He has held the constituency seat of North East Fife in the Scottish Parliament since 2016.

Mr Rennie is hoping for a Liberal Democrat fight back north of the border, after the SNP landslide of 2015 culled the party’s MPs from 11 to just him.

He said: “From Edinburgh to the Highlands, we're relishing the opportunity to take the fight to the opposition parties and we fully intend to win seats at this election.”