NICK Clegg has snubbed his party’s new leader by refusing a position in Tim Farron’s frontline team, which aims to lead the "Liberal Democrat fightback".

The former leader, who oversaw his party's disastrous performance at the General Election when it lost 49 seats, including all but one in Scotland, has opted for a “quieter" life on the backbenches, said Mr Farron's office.

The absence of the 48-year-old Sheffield MP from the Lib Dems’ frontline team, announced today, will not only throw up a serious question-mark about his personal relationship with Mr Farron - the Cumbrian MP was a senior Lib Dem figure who was conspicuously not among Mr Clegg's appointments to a Coalition Government role - but also his future in the House of Commons.

The party said the ex-Deputy Prime Minister was offered a post in Mr Farron’s team but “decided, after some consideration, that he wanted to take a quieter role on the back benches and would not be taking a spokesperson position at this time”.

It is thought the brief he was offered, in light of the EU referendum campaign, was the foreign affairs portfolio.

Another notable absence among the party’s eight MPs is that of Mark Williams, the Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion in Wales.

Of the 22 frontline posts six are filled by MPs, 10 by peers and two by people who have not been elected – Lynne Featherstone and Lorely Burt, who lost their seats on May 7, and who take up the roles on energy and business respectively.

Alistair Carmichael, the former Scottish Secretary, who is now the Lib Dems’ only Scottish MP, takes on the Home Affairs brief. The Scottish portfolio has been handed to Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader.

A question-mark also hangs over Mr Carmichael’s future given he is being investigated by the Commons standards commissioner over so-called Frenchgate, the row over the leaked memo that sought to smear First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during the election campaign. It is widely believed that if Kathryn Hudson finds against the Orkney and Shetland MP, he will resign and force a by-election.

Norman Lamb, who was beaten by Mr Farron for the leadership, takes on the health brief, Tom Brake takes on the triple role as Chief Whip and Shadow Commons Leader as well as spokesman on foreign affairs and John Pugh becomes the education spokesman. Greg Mulholland becomes the campaigns chairman.

Key portfolios have been given to peers, which raises the question about who will speak on them in the Commons.

Baroness Kramer will speak on the economy, Baroness Jolly on defence, Baroness Manzoor on work and pensions, Baroness Randerson on transport, Baroness Parminter on the environment, Baroness Northover on international development, Baroness Bonham-Carter on culture, media and sport, Baroness Hussein-Ece on equalities, Lord Marks on Justice and Lord Allerdice on Northern Ireland.

Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, takes on the Wales portfolio while local government will be handled by Councillor Dorothy Thornhill, the Mayor of Watford.

The party HQ said that, in appointing his new team, Mr Farron had “set about ending the Liberal Democrats’ lack diversity at the top of the party by naming the most diverse Shadow Cabinet team in the party’s history”.

The new frontline team, that includes 12 women and 10 men, was “the Liberal voice that Britain desperately needs,” declared Mr Farron.

“It features some of the best campaigners that the party has; balanced with the experience and economic credibility that our party has developed over the last five years in government.”

The Cumbrian MP said it was important for him to be able to “call on the advice and experience of people at all levels of our party and I believe we have an excellent team to lead the Lib Dem fight back”.

He added: “Together, we will take our ideas, our values and our liberal messages to every corner of Britain. We will make the case for housing, immigration, Europe, environmentalism and human rights.”