After a low of just 11 MPs three years ago, Ed Davey is now talking about supplanting the Tories
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey plays tennis with deputy leader Daisy Cooper in Brighton, before his keynote speech at the party’s conference
In 2019, he had been one of the officials in the room who felt the campaign was making fatal mistakes. He viewed with dismay the attempt to win the air war with stridently pro-Remain messages, while relying on “thin” resources when it came to grassroots campaigning. But it was still the longest of long shots: Gillan had won the seat with 55 per cent of the vote, while the Lib Dem candidate trailed on 26 per cent. Nationally, the Lib Dems were on just 7 per cent with the Tories on 43 per cent. Johnson was still a popular figure, nationally. In Chesham, however, the opposite was true.
The victory also changed views of Johnson, in the public and in Westminster. “That by-election was the first time that Boris Johnson looked beatable,” McCobb recalled. The key difference in this contest was that the Lib Dems did not feel they were coming from behind. When the campaign began, they knew they could win. McCobb decided it was time to reformulate his general election strategy into something more ambitious.
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