Paddy Ashdown always said John Major was probably the most decent resident of 10 Downing St. Often derided for his background, his voice and style, his cones hotline and his evocative speech about a Britain of long shadows on county cricket grounds and warm beer, John Major is perhaps the embodiment of a Tory party now swept away by venal ambition, lies, chaos and a hard right turn.
No coincidence then that Lib Dem leader Ed Davey seemed to channel his inner Major in this week’s conference speech talking of ‘”male voice choirs and Hogmanay, county shows and school fairs, fish and chips, village greens and cricket pavilions”. A direct appeal to the understated, underrated middle England, to people who might have supported John Major’s Tory party, or that of Cameron and May but appalled at what it has become, ashamed of Boris Johnson’s antics, despairing of Kemi Badenoch and find Reform abhorrent. Politically homeless, drowned out by increasingly divisive politics, confounded by a xenophobia claiming to be patriotism wrapped in St George’s flags probably made in China.
There have been rumblings about Davey’s daft stunts but it got the party coverage during the election campaign that meant its clear message on social care, closer ties with Europe and water pollution got coverage too. More than 3000 local councillors, 72 MPs, 60 of those seats taken from the Tories. The Lib Dems are by far the largest third party in parliament (not that you’d know it given the amount of media coverage given to Reform.) So, no coincidence either that Davey went full on attack against Farage, laying the blame for Brexit firmly on him, aligning Farage with Trump and offering a stark warning that what’s happening in the USA could be replicated here should Reform get into power. Davey was quick to condemn Elon Musk’s video intervention at the recent far right march in London and called on both Labour and Tory leaders to do the same. They didn’t.
In her trademark sneering way Kemi Badenoch dismissed the Lib Dems as people who lack ideology, simply want to be nice and get the church roof fixed. There’s a lot to be said for being nice, particularly right now and while Badenoch was baying for Angela Rayner’s blood, Ed Davey offered genuine empathy to a fellow parent of a disabled child. While fixing the church roof might not be everyone’s idea of civic engagement, most people recognise the value of local communities and how they can support, maintain and nurture services and amenities, ever more needed as public funding cuts bite deep.
Ed Davey might not be exciting but he’s a man comfortable in his own skin, compassionate and pragmatic and it might just be that attacking Farage appeals enough to former Tory voters to create a stop Reform coalition. Because Labour on its own and in its current state won’t.
