Interview: Ed Davey

Lib Dem MP Ed Davey

Sunday, 14, Sep 2008 12:00

It's the job of senior Liberal Democrats to be upbeat about their party's electoral prospects – and a quick glance over their rising number of MPs in recent elections seems to make that an easy one.

But anyone with any knowledge of the current shifts in British politics will know the tide is turning against them, starting with their perceived disappointing progress in the 2005 election.

Since then the Lib Dems have got rid of two leaders, toyed with a 50p tax rate for the super-rich and found themselves squeezed between a struggling Labour and resurgent Tory party.

"We are looking to make gains in this election," Ed Davey, chair of the party's campaigns communications committee, tells politics.co.uk.

"Clearly there will be more gains off Labour than against the Tories, but there's no reason why we can't hold them at the elections or even get some seats.

"There's no reason why we can't become a strengthened parliamentary force after the next election."

Is that really realistic? Polling since the 2005 election has made some pretty grim reading for the party. But Mr Davey insists the Lib Dems' figures have been "resilient". After all, they're comparable to Lib Dem numbers at the same stage in previous electoral cycles. Mr Davey is "fairly confident" as a result.

This is a tough conference for the Lib Dems, who are finding themselves overshadowed by the turmoil that is the Gordon Brown premiership. The media can't be blamed for that, of course. But Mr Davey seems to suggest the press is making a meal of this year's tax proposals. Mr Clegg wants to reverse his party's tendency towards increasing taxes, claiming the goalposts have changed. It's getting a lot of attention as a result, but Mr Davey is unimpressed with the conference coverage.

"I'm afraid it's a media perspective that the only thing we're debating is tax cuts," he points out. What about family policy, crime, pensions, education? "We're debating a huge amount," Mr Davey insists. A shame none of it is as interesting as spending plans, which go a long way towards defining a party.

Mr Davey has been through the rigmarole of this sort of thing "four or five times" before so is a veteran in the art of going through the government's books.

"It's actually quite hard work getting your hands dirty in government accounts," he says, evoking images of daring Lib Dem raids into Treasury basement archives. The reality is "work in progress" is nearer the mark. That's the problem about Lib Dem spending plans. A bit of clarity wouldn't help.

Mr Davey's main job, of course, is going up against David Miliband and William Hague on foreign affairs. He is scathing about Labour's record on Europe, but reserves most of his bile for the Tories. He says they are "incredibly weak" when it comes to confronting the growing Russian threat in Europe.

What backs this up? Well, he thinks Tory opposition to a common security and defence policy, a coherent energy stance and EU enlargement wouldn't go down well in the corridors of Brussels. "On every element of these challenges, whether it's climate change, energy, Russia – the Conservatives would go naked into the negotiating chamber because everyone knows they are hostile to Europe."

For this week, at least, Mr Davey can relax; his security policy paper passed the conference floor yesterday with flying colours despite worries from some sandal-wearers over Britain's continued involvement in Afghanistan. I grabbed him immediately afterwards and he seemed relieved his big debate was over.

"It's been a lot of work putting the policy together, a lot of consultation work," he said. "I don't think people understand prior to conference how much work is done, getting people's views. We're a very democratic party. Hopefully we get it right by the time we get to conference."

Mr Davey, perhaps, spent last night dreaming of a hung parliament with the Lib Dems holding the balance of power in the Commons. Let's hope his party gets it right by then too.

Alex Stevenson