Tim Farron declared the “comeback starts right now” for the Liberal Democrats as he addressed party members just hours after being elected leader.

The former party president beat opponent Norman Lamb by 56.5 per cent to 43.5 per cent on a 56 per cent turnout in the contest to replace Nick Clegg.

Cheered on by supporters at a victory rally in London, Farron said the party would win back support ward by ward.

He added: “Revival is in our grasp. Have hope. Have courage. Have belief. We start our plan for the 2020 election right now. And the fightback will begin well beyond Westminster.”

He added: “That comeback starts right now, right here, it starts with us.”

Farron heaped praise on his leadership opponent, telling activists that the former minister was an “outstanding liberal”.

And he paid tribute to predecessor Clegg for the “passion and gravitas and sanity” he had shown in the wake of the party’s crushing general election defeat.

He added: “In the election campaign which has just gone, we weren’t bad at telling people what we were against. But we were pretty terrible at telling people what we were for.

“Let me be crystal clear what the Liberal Democrats are for: we are the party that sees the best in people not the worst.

“We are the party that believes that the role of government is to help us to be the best that we can be, no matter who we are or what our background. That’s it. That’s our mission.”

The new leader now faces the challenge of turning around the ailing party after it lost all but eight of its 57 Commons seats after five years in coalition government with the Conservatives. Nearly 34,000 members voted in the leadership election, with Farron securing 19,137 votes and Lamb 14,760.

A magnanimous Lamb congratulated the victor, saying he had the capacity to “inspire people, in the party and beyond”.

“We all together have to be absolutely united behind his leadership,” he added.

Clegg said his successor would pick the party up and get it fighting again following its brutal election drubbing.