Ed Davey’s game plan

Ed Davey owes much of his election success to Boris Johnson – and in more ways than one. The slide-loving, bungee-jumping, paddleboard-slipping Lib Dem leader has, like Johnson on his zipwire, learned how to capture media attention while evading being placed on a conventional political axis. One day he’s intoning soulfully on social care in the Commons; the next rocking up to party conference on a jet ski. He wants inheritance tax hiked but decries Labour’s plans for VAT on school fees. Such shenanigans enabled him in the election to appear both serious and silly, left and right, using any publicity to deliver ruthlessly crafted messages on health, sewage and the cost-of-living crisis.

The strategy paid off handsomely and 72 Lib Dem MPs were elected in July. There was a mood of euphoria at the conference in Brighton this week, as activists celebrated the party’s best result since the days of Asquith and Lloyd George.