Was Ed Davey ‘a bit right-wing’ for a Tory coalition partner?

The Lib Dem leadership showdown between Layla Moran and Ed Davey has become something of an ideological battle over the soul of the party. Moran is explicitly courting disgruntled left-wingers, telling Business Insider that under her leadership the party would be ‘even more radical than Labour’ and is pledging to match the Corbynite promise of free broadband. Meanwhile, Davey is pitching himself as the pragmatist’s choice. He has, in the past, defended the coalition (even if he strenuously avoided mentioning the dreaded ‘c’ word since the general election). Though lately he has been keen to burnish his progressive credentials by talking the language of radical BLM campaigners. 

Only Mr S can’t help but wonder whether an old interview from one of Davey’s coalition colleagues could now come back to haunt him. Back in 2014, former Tory MP (now Lord) Greg Barker, who served under Davey at the department of energy, told the New Statesman that Davey was ‘a bit right-wing for me’, adding: ‘He’s rather laissez-faire.