Why Ed Davey thinks Tory Party should be ‘consigned to history’

By Michael Baggs (with Lewis Goodall)

Liberal Democrat leader and stunt enthusiast Ed Davey speaks to The News Agents about the party’s ambitions after its biggest election win in more than a century.

Read time: 4 minutes

In brief…

• Ed Davey says Conservatives “undermined” the UK during 14 years of government, and hopes to take more seats from them in future elections.
• Davey says the Lib Dems election campaign, which involved headline-grabbing stunts, also drew attention to the party’s goals and policies.
• He has shown disappointment in Labour plans to cut winter fuel allowances, saying it is not a solution to the UK’s financial crisis.

Ed Davey is ready to “finish the job”.

And by that, he means the Conservative Party.

“I think it's absolutely clear that the Conservatives should be consigned to history,” the Liberal Democrat leader tells Lewis Goodall of The News Agents.

“The way they have run our country for so long has been so atrocious, they've undermined so many aspects of our nation.”

Davey, and his party, are still on a high. At the 2024 general election, the Lib Dems won 72 seats in the House of Commons, the highest number since 1923, more than 100 years ago.

This was a huge increase from the 11 won in 2019, and most were taken in former Tory constituencies.

“I think the chance for us to finish the job, particularly when it comes to the Conservative Party, and take more seats from them, is a genuine one,” Davey says, from his Kingston and Surbiton constituency.

“These people have seen through the Conservative Party. It's a party who no longer cares about so many ordinary people. They've taken them for granted. They're just out of touch.”

Ed Davey: ‘The Conservatives should be consigned to history’

You might remember how the Lib Dems (well, more specifically Ed Davey himself) campaigned for the 2024 election. Bungee jumps, paddle boarding, assault courses, waterslides, fairground rides.

The only other party leader who got a soaking on the campaign trail was Nigel Farage, and that was only when a milkshake was thrown in his face in Clacton-On-Sea.

Davey believes the campaign, and its emphasis on having fun, worked.

Not just because he drew headlines for his antics, but because it won the party some rare attention from the UK’s media onto the Lib Dem manifesto as well.

“We did all those stunts, but we had more air time for liberal Democrat policies and ideas, more than I can ever remember,” Davey continues.

“People turned up and listened, and we had the chance to make our case, and I'm very grateful for that.”

He says the party’s light-hearted approach stood it apart from “divisive” and “negative” politics seen from opponents.

“It enabled us to shake that off and to show that we were ordinary people,” he adds.

“We've got a very serious message. We're in this for values we hold very, very dearly.”

Davey’s values go deeper than his desire to consign the Tories to “history”. He also has mixed feelings on Keir Starmer and the Labour Party’s actions since they took power following a triumphant win in July.

As a carer himself, with his situation being part of the Lib Dems campaign for the July election, Davey says he is disappointed by Labour backtracking on pledges to reform the UK's social care system.

He says he believes the Labour government when they speak about the £22 billion 'black hole' it inherited from the Tories, but insists that cutting winter fuel payments to pensioners is not a viable route out of it.

"There are millions of pensioners who are struggling to get by,” he continues.

“For them, the cost of living is still very much a real thing. They're seeing energy bills go up with the Ofgem raising the cap by over 10% this winter.””

On the recent cut of 30 out 350 arms licenses with Israel, Davey says Labour didn’t go “far enough”.

Ed Davey reacts to Labour's partial arm sales ban to Israel

But it’s not just the state of the UK that’s keeping Ed Davey up at night. He’s also concerned about the possibility of a Trump win in the November US election.

“I’m very worried about it. I don't think it's good for the world, and it wouldn't be good for America,” he says.

“I think the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz campaign is really exciting. It's fun and joyous.”

So that’s another backer for the Democratic Party then. Most importantly, he thinks Kamala Harris would be “really good” at bungee jumps, if her campaign calls for it.

The Liberal Democrats will host its annual party conference in Brighton from 14-17 September, where it will focus on “health and care, costs of living, the environment”.

He says the conference will show UK politics can be “bold, ambitious and hopeful”, all while taking out Lib Dem rivals.

“We can knock down the rest of the blue wall, and we can be the big surprise in British politics,” he says.

Listen in full on The News Agents.

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