Ed ‘Double O’ Davey’s leadership pitch

Has the excitement of pitching to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats gone to contender Ed Davey’s head? Yesterday, the potential successor to Vince Cable was forced to apologise for his violent language, after he said a Remain alliance should ‘decapitate’ the ‘blond head’ of Boris Johnson in an opinion piece for the Times.

The embarrassing U-turn appears not to have discouraged Davey though from his adventurous approach to winning the leadership contest.

Taking part in a leadership debate on Victoria Derbyshire this morning, Davey revealed that he had been approached by MI6 at one point in his career:

‘As a younger man I almost served our country in a different way. MI6 tried to recruit me to be a spy overseas.’

Before delivering arguably the most embarrassing line of the year to a live studio audience:

‘But I had just appointed to be the economic advisor to Paddy Ashdown… so I never became “Double 0-Davey”’

Who said the Lib Dem leadership race was boring?!

Ed Davey just gave the most excruciating line of the summer so far.#Double0Davey#VictoriaLIVE