YouSaid · the spoken record

Ed Davey

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80
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2023-09-03
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2023-09-03
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  1. “You can read her book and you can see how the genesis of that policy coming to the cabinet and how we pushed it. And you're absolutely right, of course. There were conservatives who worked with us. That had to be the case. It was a coalition. And on renewables, there were some amazing conservative supporters, what we did. I mean, I particularly remember Charles, a guy called Charles Henry, I'm sure you know, Amber Rudd and others. But there were also on the other side, Rory, and I'm sure you remember this, George Osborne, Eric Pickles, Owen Patterson, all who tried to stop me on almost a weekly basis doing things I wanted to do. And it became really obvious to me, particularly when doing offshore wind, and we were putting in the system which managed to massively reduce the cost of offshore wind and made Britain the world lead an offshore wind. When we were doing that, with some help from people like Oliver Letwin, I'm very happy to give him some credit, but George Osborne didn't want that to happen.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “To be honest, Rory, I tend to find that conservatives claim credit for all the things that we initiated, same-sex marriage, and everyone thought it was David Cameron's idea, was actually Lynn Featherstone was the real promoter of that. If you talk about renewables, Ed Miliband did a lot of work, but in coalition, Chris Heune, myself and the Dublin Democrats generally.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Neighborhood plans where they've been allowed to operate have resulted in more houses being built, but more affordable houses being built that have more infrastructure or genuine communities. So we want more houses, we want the right type of house.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Well, it is true in this coming election that the vast majority of seats we can win and the seats we can hold are opponents of the Tories. There are one or two exceptions. It's Sheffield Hallen where against a Labour, one or two other seats where we might take on Labour, depending on how the cards go, and there's a few against the SNP. But fundamentally right, I've fought confused all my life. And going back to tactical voter 87 before I was in the political party. And I want to remove the conservatives from power. And to take on the Nimbyism, I don't want that to go over that. We want to build more houses. The question is, what type of houses and where? The current system initially was very top-down, although the exertives would change that a bit, but it's still very much a developer-led system. Liberal Democrats believe in a community-led system. We actually change the law in government around neighborhood plans. And interestingly, this government's analysis of”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “I'm going to have to unpick a lot of what you've just said. I'm very happy to take the Nimbyism on because it's not true. But first of all, this concept that the conservatives are consistent over time and everywhere. I never said that. Nonsense. I never said that. I did not say that. And the Labour Party consistent everywhere is a nonsense. You guys accuse the Liberal Democrats of doing that. And actually, I think you guys are more than just want to get that on the record. It's easier for them.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Because actually, for the sort of reason that Alistair was touching on then with the smoking, my impression of labour over the years is ultimately they are more willing to trust the state far more than liberals are. And they do that on the economy, on personal freedom, on many other issues. And they say if the state is doing it, well, it must be right. Well, I, as a liberal, worry about that because that could take power away from people. And often the state is the powerful organization that needs to be held to account. It's not just private companies, but it can be the state. And that's the big distinction between, I think, the Liberal Democrats who really want to empower everybody. And sometimes that means pushing back against the state.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Well, it's about freedom and it's the state whether you draw the line between the state telling people what they can do and allowing people to have some freedom. And so the argument on smoking was secondary smoking can harm you. But in the amendment that I voted for as liberal, that wouldn't have been the case. There would be no harm to any other people. And I go back to my John Stewart Mill.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Thank you. And we voted because the concept was if you met a smoker in a smoker's club where in that club the employees didn't have to come in to serve you drinks or take away them. And you could just be smokers smoking together, that you should have the right to do that.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “An example. Let me let me, but it was only one tiny bit of it So I voted for all your legislation, the Labour Party's legislation, to ban smoking in pubs and clubs by one little bit. There was one amendment, and most Labour Democrats voted with the government, but myself and a few others who voted against the.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “So it's about power and how you give power to ordinary people and how you make sure the powerful have to be accountable for how you do that.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Okay, well, I'll tell you what my litter is. I can really put it in a nutshell. I think liberals are about empowering people”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Well, I think I don't know exactly when it happened, but removing the right of asylum seekers to work we thought was a really bad idea. We still think is a bad idea. Asylum seekers still can't work. And we think that's bad for them, their health, their dignity, and bad for the taxpayer. And so we objected to that. That's a good example.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Interviewers, Presley MPs. As someone who was the party economics advisor for a long time who helped develop the policy and who cost the manifesto, I can assure you that we as a group of Liberal Democrats were very clear what we were spending the money on. And so there was that sort of criticism of Labour, to go back to your question, Lori. And then there was this degree of slight authoritarianism coming in from the Home Office, whether it was over civil liberties or over immigration and asylum in particular.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Well, of course, you would say that I wouldn't. And I would say it was a very good policy to make sure that education was properly funded. And we spelt it out. And I remember our education spokesman at the time spelling out to Jack Straw exactly what we would spend the money on to improve people's life chances. And I was very much involved in that.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “First of all, the first half, I thought its biggest problem was it was very cautious. I mean, perhaps understandably so given the history, but we found that we were arguing for more tax and spend. So for a period we were to the left of labour economically because we felt our public services where Labour had actually historically now had a good record looking back over the 13 years. But in the, I'm not complaining about that. But in the first four years, I think you will also agree that there wasn't so much.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Well, let's stick first of all with what happened in the ripe to 97 and then the 97 government. I think all active lib dems were aware that there was conversations. Part of that was because we were all wanting to remove this Conservative government, been in power for a long, long time. There were lots of things going on, particularly in constitutional reform, the Scottish Convention, social justice commission, a whole range of things where there was very clear an overlap between LibDem policy and Labour Party policy. And there was a movement where there was a lot of encouragement of tactical voting. And what we didn't mention about My University career was... Was old in tactical voting 87”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “So at home, I'm pretty grounded because I'm a carer and have to think about the family the whole time. And, you know, if you're a lib dem, and I don't mean this any disparaging way to labour or conservative colleagues, not at all, but you tend to get re-elected by being really hardworking your community in a way which if you're a labour MP Conservative MP, you have quite a bit of a push, you know, from the national party. You get much less of that in the Liberal Democrats. And so you really have to earn your spurs. And that means being engaged, doing lots of advice surgeries, knocking on doors, being involving your community as you possibly can. And to be honest, I really like that. I enjoy that sort of what we often call community politics. I like that a bit. And that keeps you grounded.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I'm almost an accidental MP because I could have ended up in development. I could have ended up in the green movement more broadly. I applied for a job at Friends of the Earth, for example. Lots of things I might have ended up doing. Even when I took the job with the Lib Dems in Parliament, I wasn't a party member. And then I didn't expect to get to stand as an MP. I didn't expect to get elected. So it's all been a little bit accidental. And I think that's meant that I've always sort of been pre in touch with my family and my community. I mean, I like to think, well, my feet are quite foam on the ground when I get back home. I have a disabled son who's now 15, is wonderful, but he can't walk or talk and he needs 24-7 care. And I think regrettably always will. My wife's got a mess. So while she's amazing and fantastic support and does huge amounts, that's still challenging.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Possible but not likely. So two of my finals papers on development, economics and development politics, I really wanted to work abroad, actually. And I applied to get an MSc in agricultural economics to see if I could be of use to people, as opposed to just sit in a chair. And the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Foods in their wisdom didn't give me a grant. So I went around my girlfriend at the time, had a good summer, got the odd job here, went and looked after my grandmother, my nana, because she's broken her hip in accent, so I looked after her for a bit, and then applied for various jobs, and I applied to the Social and Liberal Democrats to be their parliamentary economics researcher. I wasn't a member of the party.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “So that was how I sort of got in. And I went to different places at Oxford tradition. I didn't like the Oxford Union, didn't join the Oxford Union. I went to Oxford Labour Club, didn't join that, didn't join any political organisation actually at Oxford”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Global justice to the environment was something that really influenced me. And then I had a year off between school and university where I travel a lot hitchhiked and under around a bit and I read quite a lot and I read a book called Seeing Green by Jonathan Porrott. It had one page on climate change and the rest on lots of other aspects of environmental politics. And I went up to Oxford. This is slightly non-conventional rury. I went around Freshers Fair and the only thing I joined was the student ecology group. My first bit of political spin, Alistair, was to change its name to Green Action.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Yeah, I mean, I think there's a bit before Oxford that's quite important in my own story and certainly my political story, because obviously my parents weren't around to influence me. I sort of thought they were sort of what we might call Heathike Tories is my impression, but obviously it wasn't a big fung. My first political meeting was a Tory disco, a young conservative discogeel. My eldest brother, who was the chairman of Nottingham Conservative, he dragged me along to this. And it was dreadful. Put me off them for life, I tell you. But the real influence on me, to be serious for a minute, was my cousin, a wonderful man called Peter Lawton. He left us, who was very much into the environment, into conservation. He worked particularly in developing countries on family planning, the rights of women, female education and healthcare, primary healthcare in many, many of the poorest countries in the world. And his commitment to”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Inevitably. I think when you look at young carers and people who lose parents, there's a number of things that often come out from the research. There's empathy, there's a degree of time management because you're juggling lots of different things. I think resilience, you have to be pretty resilient, obviously. And yeah, that plays into how you approach life and your relationships, your work.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Of the kitchen, it's before my O levels, and I was thinking, why am I going to do all this hard work? Because previously I'd worked for my mother because I think kids do, don't they? Young people do. They work to make their parents proud. And this for me was a real Rubicon moment where I just thought, right, I'm either going to do it for myself or I'm not going to do it. And I had to sort of take the decision. And I could have taken different pathways. But I decided to knockle down.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “I think there's quite a few other people who go through difficulties, let's be clear. I mean, I was a young carer, so I have quite a lot of affinity for young carers, and it's an area that I've worked with cross-party on. I do quite a bit of work on child abreavement, campaigned on bereavement allowances, widows allowances and so on. I think for me personally, when you lose both your parents, you sometimes go one of its ways, gone. For me, I remember we lived in a little bungalow just on the Artskirs of Nottingham, and I'd go back there, first with my brother, and his year off, then I'd go and live with my grandparents in North Nottinghamshire, then my eldest brother came to study at Trent Poly, as it then was, Trent Polytechnic back in the day. And I live with him for a bit. But I would go there because we kept the bungalow on for a long time, often beat by myself. I organized the best parties at school, as you can imagine. But one day I remember...”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Yeah, it started the sort of full on care when she was clearly terminally ill started when I was about 12. And then she died when I was 15. In fact, by her bedside, she was in the last two weeks. She was in Nottingham General Hospital. They put her on a dementia ward, which was not great. She wasn't in a hospice. And I was there with my school uniform age 15 by her bedside. And she died while I was there on my way to school. So yeah, that was obviously quite a...”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “So obviously I was close to mum. Mum was bringing three of us up and then she got breast cancer, had a mastectomy. And then when I was 12, she was diagnosed with secondary cancer on her bones. And that's not unusual for women who have breast cancer, but it's a very painful cancer. And so my middle brother and I, because my eldest brother had lots of good to university and so on, Henry and I nursed her for three years at home. And yeah, it was quite tragic. It's a very, very painful disease. I have to administer morphine. We had a bell jar of morphine. Can you believe that in our kitchen? I used to have to help her put these pads on on the body to get so she could give herself electric shocks to dole the pain. So it was quite full on care.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “In the 50s, saying that only the liberals understood the NHS. And it was a real moment because I'd have thought he was a Tory. Because he'd gone on, my mum used to say he used to play snook at the local Tory club. But he clearly was You can imagine how that meant to me”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Yeah, one memory when I was picked up from play school. He was in the back of the car with a large overcoat because it was the winter and he was obviously being treated and that was affecting him. So that's about the only real memory I have of him. I found a, I'd been elector for a while and I was going through some photographs of my lovely Nana one day 20 years ago and I found a press cutting of him. And it was my dad speaking to the certainly Ashefield Liberal Association.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Yeah, I was born in Mansfield Woodhouse to John and Nina Davy. I was the youngest of three boys. And my dad, he'd come from a mining community in North Nottinghamshire. My mum when he was doing his national service. And he was doing pretty well. But aged 38, he was diagnosed with cancer. And so this is 70, 71. I was four. And he died within three months. So my mum was widowed at age 36 with three boys under 10. So it was extremely challenging for her. I didn't really know my dad.”

    2023-09-03 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 34. Ed Davey: Leading the Lib Dems, fighting the Tories, and a coalition with Starmer’s Labour? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source