“Farage will be found out” – ED DAVEY on how the Lib Dems can fight Reform and rival Labour

Oh God, What Now?

Podmasters

Politics, Government, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ed Davey’s reborn Lib Dems are on a 100-year high with 72 MPs and a shot at becoming the conscience of progressive Britain. So why do Reform get all the coverage? He joins our regulars to talk about fighting Farage, Labour’s travails, the war on cruelty in politics, why all those General Election surfing and bungee stunts worked, and what the Lib Dems can get done in Parliament. “We’ve been the best opposition,” he tells Alison Phillips, Matt Green and Hannah Fearn. Will they believe him…? • Get our exclusive ⁠NordVPN deal here⁠. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee! ESCAPE ROUTES • Ed Davey recommends There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. • Hannah has been watching Black Doves on Netflix. • Matt recommends Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz. • Alison recommends Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. When you buy books through our affiliate bookshop you help fund OGWN by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more. Presented by Alison Phillips with Hannah Fearn and Matt Green. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Cornershop. Art direction: James Parrett. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's a reason we love our Patreon backers.
0:02.1	Your support is much more dependable than money from advertisers,
0:05.3	and it means we can plan for the future and keep all the podcast going.
0:08.7	Think how much difference you could make by supporting your favourite pod.
0:12.1	Follow the link in the show notes to find out how to become a Patreon supporter. Welcome to Oh God, what now.
0:30.2	And on today's show, the Lib Dems are a historic high.
0:34.3	So why aren't they getting more attention?
0:37.2	Ed Davies' Reborn Party achieved a record
0:39.7	72 seats in the last election, taking many Tory scalps, including Justice Secretary Alex
0:45.5	Chalk, and Education Secretary Julian Keegan along the way. Discussed with the Conservatives
0:50.9	helped, but so did Davies' eye-catching stunts like bungee jumping from
0:54.8	a crane, paddleboarding across Lake Windermere to draw attention to water pollution, and performing
0:59.7	CPR on a dummy to the sound of the Bee Gees staying alive. But since then, it has been harder for the
1:06.1	party to get traction, with Reform UK getting the bulk of newspaper coverage. How can the Lib Dems cut through
1:13.7	when the media seems so dazzled by a shiny new Nigel? Can they become the real alternative to
1:19.9	labour? And what makes Ed Davy tick? He is here with us today to discuss all that and more.
1:27.5	Hello, Sir Ed. Hi, Alison. Lovely to be with you. You became leader five years ago this very month. Yeah, that's right. And at that point, I think the Lib Dems were polling about 6%. Now you're about 15 to 16%. So that's good. We only had 11 MPs as well. Yes, so that's pretty impressive, isn't it? But apart from increasing your seats, thinking back to where you were exactly five years ago,
1:49.0	what did you want to achieve, do you think, and do you feel you've achieved it?
1:54.8	Well, it's still work in progress because I want to do even better for the party
1:58.7	and better for the values that we represent.
2:01.6	But, you know, the 72 seats you won at the last general election was historic high for us,
2:07.7	but I think we can build on that.
	...

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