A few days before the local elections, I stumble across a TikTok edit of Ed Davey to the viral SOPHIE song with the lyrics “We can stay here, or we could go up, up, up…”
“We can stay here” plays alongside clips of Keir Starmer doing the 6-7 motion, images of him looking awkward, and that infamous photo of him cosied up beside Mandelson. “Or we could go up, up, up…” accompanies clips of Ed Davey – the perfect foil, feeding animals and campaigning with a beaming smile. This is not a niche political edit from an A Level politics student putting off their work; it was created and posted by the Liberal Democrats’ official TikTok account.
“One thing we [previously] failed to do was have a stronger social media presence to show our ideas and what we stand for,” Davey admits. So, the edits and leaning into internet culture are a bid to win the support of young people – who would have guessed? I speak with Davey just after he’s delivered a talk at the Union which, unsurprisingly, attracted an older crowd. He assures me his party is working to change this: “I think as we improve our social media presence […] young people will be more attracted to what we say, partly because it’s very principled, and partly because it’s more pragmatic and realistic.” Although Davey’s ambition to expand the party’s social media presence is clearly strategic, it occasionally comes across as rather haphazard. Furthermore, given he himself admitted to his lack of social media fluency to The Guardian – “When I said I’m leader of the Rizz Dems, I didn’t quite know what I meant” – questions about whether his stunts undermine his credibility naturally arise.
“When I said I’m leader of the Rizz Dems, I didn’t quite know what I meant”
Davey’s persona has always been the reasonable, centrist dad with a kooky affinity for bungee jumping, tumbling off paddle boards, and watersliding – and that’s yet to mention hobby-horsing. To cement this persona into the public imagination, Davey waltzed onto the stage at the Lib Dem spring conference to the tune of ‘Daddy Cool’ by Boney M. The video posted on the party’s official TikTok – which uncannily resembles David Brent’s motivational speech scene in The Office – is captioned “(Centrist) Daddy Cool”. Davey’s quirkiness was certainly an effective tool in the 2024 general election, winning the Lib Dems 72 seats – the biggest success for the party in just over a century. The Lib Dems have somewhat carried this momentum forward in the local elections, gaining 155 council seats, but it doesn’t take a political analyst to spot that this number is dwarfed by the 1,451 seats gained by Reform UK.
Compared to the rhetoric of Farage, when Davey lists the things his party stands for – “very pro-European, very strong on the environment, belief in civil liberties, […] sorting out NHS and care” – to me, at least, they are not remotely extreme. And perhaps because these views are not conducive to the kind of attention grabbing social media clips that populists like Farage have mastered, Davey has had to lean into the wacky stunts and (verging on ‘brain-rot’) memes.
“While the Lib Dems have enjoyed success in the recent local elections, they cannot afford to be complacent”
Two years on from the general election, however, the political landscape has changed; not least because of the supercharged growth of Reform UK. When the next general election rolls around, there will be a new generation of voters aged 16-21 who were ineligible to vote in 2024. We know that young people are moving towards the Green Party in huge numbers: 72 ‘young greens’ were elected into 74 council seats. While the Lib Dems have enjoyed success in the recent local elections, they cannot afford to be complacent – and, frankly, social media stunts are not enough to win the affection of young voters.
Davey, however, warns that this shift towards the Greens is somewhat alarming: “Under Zack Polanski, they’re taking the Green Party to the far left so they’re attracting people who used to believe in Corbynite labour politics, [which is] quite a left wing position.” We talk about why this shift has been so rapid; however, Davey’s diagnosis comes across as slightly patronising. “Some will have understood that and supported it. Other people may have gone along with more of a vibe and not quite realised what they’re signing up to.” The same is true for Reform voters, Davey would argue. With the Greens gaining significant traction, that’s certainly a lot of people “not quite realis[ing]” what they’re signing up to.
“Nigel Farage wants people to think that politics can’t deliver, and that’s a very dangerous place for us to be”
Perhaps some people have passively “gone along” – but this is also a signal of people’s distrust of main party politics. There is certainly something to be said for Polanski’s ability to capitalise on young voters’ distrust. Davey tells me that rebuilding trust in politics is “one of the most important things facing our country.” He adds: “Democracy is so viable but people at the extremes, particularly Nigel Farage, want people to think that politics can’t deliver. And that’s a very dangerous place for us to be: when extremists who are dangerous to our democracy play on those fears and that lack of trust.” But how can that trust be rebuilt by a party like the Lib Dems which has a chequered history of neglecting the interests of young people, typified by the breaking of their student loans promise back in 2010?
We talk about his time at university, where it ought not to go unnoted that he and his cohort paid virtually no tuition fees. To my surprise, politics was not at all on Davey’s radar at that time. You might assume that while reading PPE at Oxford, he was a Union hack; however, he was not involved in a single political society. There’s a slight irony in an Oxford-educated politician sitting in front of me at the Cambridge Union explaining that “life isn’t just about exams and grades”. When Davey begins to reminisce on his university days, his face lights up: “I’ve got so many friends from my university days and they have helped me keep sane and healthy.” It is these lasting bonds and memories from beyond the curriculum that have shaped his advocacy for a “rounded education”. He adds: “[when] more children and young people are able to do sports, arts, crafts and music […] people with different skills shine. I think that’s a great way to bring different people together.”
I get the impression that Davey is motivated by genuine conviction and one that stems from personal life experiences. As a young carer for his terminally ill mother as a teenager, and now a carer for his disabled teenage son, improving the care system has always been a priority. Now, Davey tells me that combating the threat of the far right is his party’s primary concern. “The Liberal Democrats are going to stop Reform and the Tories because we can [persuade] that one-nation, traditional liberal Conservative voter who is appalled by Kemi Badenoch’s shift to the right and appalled by Nigel Farage.”
Davey is certainly confident that his party’s growth trajectory is positive. “Through the way I lead, the Lib Dems will be far more powerful than people are thinking.” Whether the endearing ‘centrist dad’ persona will be overshadowed by other political characters or withstand the test of the next general election is an entirely different matter, however. I suppose only time will tell if we’ll ‘stay here’, or ‘go up, up, up’.
