Ed Davey elected Leader of the Liberal Democrats

I am glad, Layla Moran would have been a disaster in the opinion of the an outsider to the party.

Yes I prefer Davey. Although I’ll hold my hands up and say I don’t know much about either.

I don’t think I would recognise either Ed Davey or Layla Moran if I saw them on television. I think this means that Ed Davey will need to make himself more prominent if the party is to get votes in future elections.

In 1995 Ed Davey rescued a woman from the railway track at Clapham Junction in the face of an oncoming train and was commended for his bravery both by the National Humane Society and by the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police.

I know the name and who he is but I wouldn't recognise Ed Davey. I found Layla Moran quite tiresome both before and after the election, so I shall be interested to see how the new leader performs.

I voted for Ed but felt a bit guilty as Layla's parents are friends of mine, her Mother in particular as we worked together once.
I just felt she does not yet have the experience for leader.
We shall see how it goes.

Ed was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, the youngest of three sons. His father, a solicitor, died when he was four and his mother, a teacher, died when he was fifteen, after years of illness when Ed and his brothers were young carers.

Ed and his wife Emily have two young children, John and Ellie. John has an undiagnosed neurological condition which means he can’t walk or talk, and so Ed is again involved in caring and knows very well how that situation effects many families

An anti-Brexit party. Good for them.

He seems like a grown up which is always reassuring.

eazybee

I know the name and who he is but I wouldn't recognise Ed Davey. I found Layla Moran quite tiresome both before and after the election, so I shall be interested to see how the new leader performs.

Me too Eazybee ?

This is Ed Davey. He was first elected as an MP in 1997. Served as a minister in the coalition government, lost his seat in 2015, but won it back in 2017.

As a business minister he worked on employment, establishing the policy detail for flexible parental leave, abolishing the default age of retirement and stopping a Conservative push to let employers to “sack at will”

In February 2012 he was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

He lead the policy and implementing a new legal framework to enable a massive increase in renewable electricity in the UK – which more than trebled under Liberal Democrat Ministers

I've seen him several times on tv. Strikes me as being an able person and I wish him luck.

Ed Davey seems like a good person. Interesting to read of his noble actions at Clapham Junction, too.

Congratulations to Ed Davey.

I hope he isn't too tainted by his association with the 2010 - 2015 coalition government, which some people just don't seem to be able to get over...

He seems like a grown up which is always reassuring.

Yes, he does.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: "Congratulations to new Libdem leader ⁦Edward Davey⁩ – look forward to working together and with all opposition parties to hold this appalling government to account & to reform our archaic undemocratic electoral system for good."

Thank you Varian for all that information.

Two things that put me off him,

He served in the ConDem government.

He represents Kingston and Surbiton. Another one in the London//South East bubble.

Ed comes from Mansefield in Nottinghamshire. He does represent a London Borough, which must make it easier for him to do a high powered job whilst being close to his family, especially as his son has special needs.

I do know that there are some who are so wedded to our undemocratic FPTP voting syustem that they believe politics must always be confrontational and cannot comprehend the notion of parties co-operating.

In spite of the fact that most LibDems would have much preferred a coalition with Labour, Ed and his LibDem colleagues put the country before party and did a great deal of good during their time in government.

Anyone objectively comparing the 2010-2015 government with the undiluted excesses of Tory rule since then must see that the coalition was preferable.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today tweeted: "Congratulations Edward Davey. Looking forward to working with you in the best interest of all Londoners."

In spite of the fact that most LibDems would have much preferred a coalition with Labour, Ed and his LibDem colleagues put the country before party and did a great deal of good during their time in government.

They didn't do my the student sons much good. One now has 50K+ student debt and the other will probably owe 60K.

What else can we thank him for? The bedroom tax.

They also gave David Cameron power. He retained that power and gave us the vote on EU membership.

What was so good about the ConDems?

If there had not been a coalition in 2010 there would have been another election and as the Tories were the only party with the funds to fight another election they would have won a majority of seats -so all the horrors we have seen since 2015 would have been inflicted on the country sooner and to even worse effect.

Mistakes were made by the LibDems in coalition, but many good measures were enacted, such as the pupil premium which has boosted the funds of schools with disadvantaged pupils.

If they had formed a coalition with the Labour party we would not have had a Brexit vote.

Sadly the numbers did not add up. Labour and LibDems together did not have enough seats so that was impossible.