Ed Davey
Sir Edward Jonathan Davey is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015 and as Deputy Leader to Jo Swinson in 2019. An "Orange Book" liberal, he has been Member of Parliament for Kingston and Surbiton since 2017, a seat he previously held from 1997 to 2015.
Davey was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. After both his parents died before he was 16, Davey was raised by his grandparents, and subsequently attended Nottingham High School. He then went on to study at Jesus College, Oxford, and Birkbeck, University of London. He worked as an economics researcher and financial analyst before being elected to the House of Commons. Davey served as a Liberal Democrat spokesperson to Charles Kennedy, Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg from 2005 to 2010, in various portfolios including education and skills, trade and industry, and foreign and Commonwealth affairs.
In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition government with the Conservative Party, Davey served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs from 2010 to 2012, and in David Cameron's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015, following Chris Huhne's resignation. Davey focused on increasing competition in the energy market by removing barriers to entry for smaller companies, and by streamlining the process of customer switching. He also approved the construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. As postal affairs minister, Davey did not investigate the details of the Post Office Horizon scandal that had led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, but was the only Post Office minister to meet Alan Bates, the founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance.
Davey lost his seat in the 2015 general election and was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for political and public service. He regained his seat in the 2017 general election, and served as the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson from 2017 to 2019. After the retirement of Vince Cable, Davey unsuccessfully ran against Jo Swinson in the 2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election, and was later appointed Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson and elected unopposed as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. After Swinson lost her seat at the 2019 general election, Davey, while remaining deputy leader, served as acting leader alongside Liberal Democrat presidents Baroness Brinton and Mark Pack from December 2019 to August 2020.
Davey stood in the 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election, in which he defeated Layla Moran with 63.5% of the vote. In his campaign he said that he would prioritise defeating the Conservatives and ruled out working with them following the 2024 general election. With Davey as their leader, the Liberal Democrats made gains alongside Labour in the 2024 local elections, where the Liberal Democrats finished second for the first time in a local election cycle since 2009. In the 2024 general election Davey led his party both to their highest ever number of seats and to the highest number of seats for a third party since 1923, and was noted, with praise and criticism, for his campaign stunts. He was re-elected unopposed as Liberal Democrat leader in 2024 and led his party to further gains in the 2025 local elections.
Early life and career
Edward Davey was born on 25 December 1965 in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. His father John, a solicitor, died in Mansfield General Hospital when Davey was four years old, three months after being diagnosed with cancer. His mother, Nina Davey, died 11 years later when Davey was 15, after which he was brought up by his maternal grandparents in the village of Eakring. Davey acted as a carer for his terminally ill mother before her death, and also cared for his grandmother.Davey was in both the 90th Nottingham Scout group and the 17th Nottingham Air Scout group. He sang in the local church choir, St John's. Like his two brothers, Davey received the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award, meeting Prince Philip on 2 March 1984 when the Prince visited his school, the private Nottingham High School, where Davey was head boy. He took A-levels in German, French and History. One of his two brothers attended Trent Polytechnic, becoming a solicitor. After leaving school, Davey attended Jesus College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first class BA degree in philosophy, politics and economics in 1988. He was JCR President.
In 1989, he became an economics researcher for the Liberal Democrats, principally to Alan Beith, the party's then-Treasury spokesman, whilst studying at Birkbeck College, London, for a master's degree in economics. He was closely involved in the development of Liberal Democrat policies such as an additional penny on income tax to fund education, and central bank independence, for the 1992 general election. From 1993 to 1997, he worked in business forecasting and market analysis for management consultancy firm Omega Partners.
Parliamentary career (1997–2015)
Davey was elected to the House of Commons, at his first attempt, in the 1997 general election, where he defeated Richard Tracey, the sitting Conservative MP for the former constituency of Surbiton, with a majority of just 56 votes, and remained the seat's MP for 18 years. In his maiden speech, on 6 June 1997, he gave his support for the setting up of the London Assembly, but was against the idea of a directly elected Mayor of London; he also spoke of the effects governmental cuts were having on education delivery in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.In 1998, he was the primary sponsor of an early day motion supporting the repeal of the Greenwich judgment, which prevents local authorities from giving their own residents priority access to school places.
In 2001, he opposed government proposals for restrictions on gambling machines, which he described as a "silly bit of nanny state politics".
In January 2003, Davey publicly backed local constituent and NHS whistleblower Ian Perkin, who alleged he had been sacked from his director of finance role for exposing statistics manipulation at St George's NHS healthcare trust. Davey condemned the NHS bureaucracy as "Stalinist" and called for an inquiry into Perkin's case, while personally meeting trust executives to discuss the case on behalf of Perkin.
In February 2003, Davey introduced the clause which repealed the prohibition of "promotion of homosexuality" under Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988. The legislation was repealed in March. He was one of the contributors to The Orange Book.
In 2006, Davey was one of eight Liberal Democrat MPs, including Jeremy Browne and Mark Oaten, who opposed a total ban on smoking in clubs and pubs. He called the ban "a bit too nanny state".
In an article for the Financial Times in 2007, Davey and LSE economist Tim Leunig proposed a new system of community land auctions through sealed bids with a new tax, to take place before the land was given planning permission. They suggested that councils could take in tax the difference between the land owner's asking price and the highest bidder's offer, claiming this would stimulate development and the revenue then used to lower other taxation.
Lib Dem spokesperson
Following Davey's election to parliament in 1997, he was appointed as the Lib Dem's spokesman on Treasury Affairs. He added the post of whip in 1998, and as the spokesman on London from 2000.Davey was re-elected in the 2001 general election, increasing his share of the vote from 36.7% to 60.2%. He increased his majority from just 56 to 15,676, beating former Conservative MP David Shaw. He joined the Liberal Democrat frontbench under Leader Charles Kennedy in the same year when he was appointed the party's spokesperson for Treasury matters. In 2002, he became the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He was appointed spokesperson for Education and Skills in 2005, before becoming spokesperson for Trade and Industry in March 2006. In December 2006, he succeeded Norman Lamb as Chief of Staff to Menzies Campbell, the new party leader. Davey was chair of the party's Campaigns and Communications Committee. Following Nick Clegg's election as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Davey was awarded the Foreign Affairs brief, and continued to retain his chairmanship of the party's Campaigns and Communications Committee.
On 26 February 2008, Davey was suspended from parliament for the day for ignoring a warning from the Deputy Speaker. He was protesting about the exclusion by the Speaker of a Liberal Democrat motion to debate and vote on whether the UK should have a referendum on staying in the EU.
At the 2009 Liberal Democrat conference, Davey caused controversy by calling for dialogue with the Taliban, through declaring that it was "time for tea with the Taliban", a comment echoed by Malala Yousafzai four years later to the BBC.
Ministerial career (2010–2015)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business (2010–2012)
Following the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement, after the 2010 general election, Davey was appointed Parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with responsibility for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs. In addition, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Trade Policy. As a Parliamentary Under Secretary, Davey led the establishment of an unofficial 'like-minded group for growth' ginger group within the European Union, convening several economically liberal European governments behind an agenda of deregulation, free trade, liberalisation of services and a digital single market. He was involved in the provisional application phase of the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and South Korea.In January 2011, he faced protests by postal workers in his Kingston and Surbiton constituency for his role in the privatisation of Royal Mail. Also in 2011, Davey announced several reforms to the labour market, mainly aimed at improving labour market flexibility. These reforms included cuts to red tape and easing dismissal laws, and were accompanied by reviews from the Institute of Economic Affairs into compensation payments and the TUPE. Davey also announced that the government would abolish the default retirement age.
As Minister for Postal Affairs, Davey did not investigate the details of the Horizon Post Office scandal that had led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters. He was, however, the only Post Office minister to meet Alan Bates, the founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, with this meeting taking place in October 2010. Following criticism in 2024, Davey expressed regret and said that he had been misled by Post Office officials. Following Paula Vennells's decision to hand back her CBE over her role during the scandal, Davey came under pressure to return his knighthood because of his role during it. However, Davey said he was "completely surprised" as to why the Conservatives had awarded Vennells a CBE in 2019.