Tim Walker

Mandrake

Where’s ‘Daddy Cool’?

Ed Davey’s decision not to officially involve the Liberal Democrats in the massive anti-far-right march in London at the end of March, organised by the Together Alliance, resulted in the resignation of a prominent member of his party’s old guard – and did nothing to dispel a growing unease about his leadership.

Suzanne Fletcher, a former parliamentary candidate for the party who helped with Davey’s campaigns – including the ‘battlebus’ launch in South Cambridgeshire during the 2024 General Election campaign – organised and helped fund a coachload of supporters from Tees Valley to attend the march and was in despair about the lack of an official Lib Dem presence.

“I feel there is a brick wall round the Lib Dem establishment,” she wrote on the ‘Liberal Democrat Voice’ website. “I wrote to Josh Babarinde, the party president, with my concerns about the party … waiting for a reply before deciding to leave, after 52 years.”

Davey may have been conspicuous by his absence, but a small contingent of Lib Dems did show up – including MPs Luke Taylor and Bobby Dean, both part of the 2024 intake – with the march’s organisers claiming an overall attendance of 500,000 people.