Are you familiar with Sir Edward Davey? Privately educated Jesus College Oxford University alumni, noted for a number of things, including paddle-boarding, bungee-jumping and wheel-barrow racing during last year’s General Election campaign. Oh, and being leader of the Liberal Democrats. Has that helped? Slightly podgy bloke with a comb over hairstyle. That’s him. From 2010, Sir Ed served in the hard right, austerity heavy Conservative government, led by David Cameron, in which Lib Dems like him took jobs. Yesterday, Sir Ed, who gained his knighthood for ‘political service’, said this on social media following a budget that will take hundreds of thousands of the very poorest people out of poverty: “Rachel Reeves is the continuity Conservative chancellor.” His chutzpah is breathtaking.
‘Sir’ Ed has a sly dig at the Chancellor for essentially trying to sort out the mess left by the Conservatives from their period in government from 2010 to 2024 and it was a terrible mess. They managed to double the national debt while at the same time slashing frontline services including the NHS and the social care system. They dramatically increased inequality and plunged many millions into poverty. They oversaw a country which in 2010 had virtually no food banks to one that by the time they left office has literally thousands of them. They tripled university fees after promising to scrap them. And during first five years, three of which he spent as a minister, ‘Sir’ Ed was in parliament voting for policies that brought all these things about. In 2015, the Conservatives won the election and the Lib Dems were all but wiped out, with ‘Sir’ Ed losing his own seat. But not to worry, eh, Ed? Along with most of the Lib Dem ministers, he got a knighthood, in my view in thanks for enabling the worst parts of austerity that carried on for the next nine years.
You’d have thought, wouldn’t you, that once he got back into parliament and then became Lib Dem leader, he might have a little contrition for his heinous acts. He helped Cameron break Britain, but did he apologise? Did he fuck. Instead, he gushed about the so-called minor achievements his party achieved, which when compared to the carnage caused to frontline services and the dramatic rise in poverty were basically nothing. When ‘Sir’ Ed insults Rachel Reeves by calling her the “continuity Conservative chancellor”, which chancellor was he supporting in 2010? I’ll give you a clue: Gideon (George) Osborne, the architect of the most cruel form of austerity imaginable.
The Liberal Democrats have always been known for being all things to all people. Shape-shifting, when it suits them, moving to the right to take on the Tories, moving to the left to take on Labour. In 2010, they gathered together all the principles they had left, handed them to the Conservatives and once austerity was deeply embedded, they stepped to one side to accept their awards. Sir Nick Clegg, Sir Vince Cable. Sir Danny Alexander. Sir Andrew Stunel. Sir Nick Harvey. Sir Norman Lamb. Sir Steve Webb. Sir Simon Hughes. Anyone I’ve forgotten? Oh yes: ‘Sir’ Ed Davey. What a coincidence. The Liberal Democrats – the Conservative party’s useful idiots, all seemingly rewarded for doing David Cameron’s dirty work. Who do you think you are kidding, ‘Sir’ Ed?
‘Sir’ Ed’s post is a cheap shot, which simply goes to remind us that despite his gimmicks he’s just another cynical politician. More than happy to prop up actual Tories for five years, getting a major honour for doing it and then somehow managing to forget it ever happened. There’s a lot of good stuff in the budget, not least taking hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. Thanks to ‘Sir’ Ed’s best efforts, hundreds of thousands of children were thrown into poverty. People should remember that he was in the room literally voting for Cameron to unleash severe authority on the country. He should own the mess he helped set in motion and for once say sorry. The fact that he hasn’t and won’t say sorry is because he isn’t. He’s the continuity Conservative, not Rachel Reeves.
