Good morning. Ed Davey became Lib Dem leader in 2020, which means he is technically the longest-serving leader of a national party in the UK. (“Technically” because, while Nigel Farage only became leader of Reform UK in his current incumbency in 2024, he had led it before when it was called the Brexit party and, if you include Ukip, he has been leader of the anti-migrant, anti-EU right in British politics for more than 20 years.) After six years in charge, it is inevitable that some Lib Dems are starting to complain and, with the Lib Dem conference taking place in Brighton, Davey has been giving interviews this morning where he has had to respond to complaints from his critics.
The most vocal has been Julian Brazil, the leader of Devon county council, who told the BBC yesterday that the Lib Dems were “sleepwalking into irrelevance” with Davey at the helm.
Not surprisingly, Davey does not agree.
Asked about Brazil’s comments, the Lib Dem leader told BBC Breakfast:
double quotation markWe’ve grown really fast in recent years under my leadership. Record number of MPs. We’re running more councils than the Conservatives – councils up and down the country.
[I’m] really proud of that record and it means when you have a bigger party, you can’t please everyone all the time.
And Davey was a bit more blunt when asked the same question on Sky News.
double quotation markI would say to the Devon councillor, we’ve now got six Liberal Democrat MPs in Devon. That’s not happened since the 1920s.
We have a huge number of councillors across Devon and are leading the way in Devon, and I could go around the rest of the country.
I happen to know Brazil. We’ve rarely seen eye to eye. So, all I would say is, we’re going to build on the success we’ve had.
I will post more from Davey’s interviews shortly.
There is more coverage here of what was happening at the Lib Dem conference at the weekend.
9am: The Liberal Democrat conference proceedings resume in Brighton. The main speech this morning is from Max Wilkinson, the home affairs spokesperson, at 11,50am. Here is the agenda.
View image in fullscreenLib Dem conference agenda Photograph: Lib DemsMorning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in the south of England.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
11.45am: Michael Marra carries out a visit in Dundee following his election as Scottish Labour leader at the weekend.
Late morning: Nigel Farage unveils the new Reform UK leader in Wales.
Evening: Andy Burnham leaves the UK for New York, where he is attending the UN general assembly and meeting Donald Trump tomorrow.
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