Lib Dem leader Ed Davey: 'My first political meeting was being dragged to a Tory disco'

Ed Davey was born in Mansfield in December 1965. After graduating Davey worked as an economics researcher for the Liberal Democrats before working in the postal services sector. He was elected as the MP for Kingston and Surbiton in 1997, a position he has held ever since. Davey served as secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change from February 2012 to May 2015 and became the leader of the Liberal Democrats in August 2020.

Speaking to the Big Issue for his Letter to My Younger Self, Ed Davey looks back on a challenging life which has seen him act as a carer for his mum, his gran and his son, and how these experiences shaped his outlook and took him to where he is today.

By the time I was 16, I’d lost both my parents. My dad had died when I was four and mum was seriously ill from when I was 12. I was about 15-and-a-half when she died. So as a 16-year-old, I was probably more mature than my peers because I had to grow up quickly. When you’re looking after your mother – although other people were helping and my nanna was incredible, on many evenings it was just me talking to my mum on her bed – you’ve got to show responsibility and maturity. And it leaves its imprint. But my mum was amazing in preparing me for what was going to happen.

We weren’t very well off but there was never a question about having food on the table. It probably felt like we were worse off than we were because mum was very careful, having been widowed aged 36 with three boys under 10. But we were all educated privately because my father had put money aside. He’d come from a working-class background but done very well by the time he died.

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I had just finished being a young carer at 16. I would want to say to my younger self, you’ve been through a tough time, but remember to enjoy yourself. And I did. But it inevitably gives you quite a serious outlook on life. Young carers have different characteristics. You’re more empathetic to people who have tough lives but equally, you see things in proportion. After mum died, when my peers were worrying about stuff, I’d think: ‘Why are you worrying about that?’

I was into everything – but nothing very well. So I played the cello, but not very well. I was in the drama society and did a bit of acting, but not very well. I played tennis as my main sport, but not very well! In terms of socialising, I’m sure my team won’t mind me saying we would go to pubs when we weren’t quite old enough… occasionally… allegedly. 

I was the only one who could have a party whenever I wanted. After mum died, I’d live with each of my brothers at different times and stay with my grandparents. But we kept on our bungalow in Nottingham, which was in a cul-de-sac with only an elderly couple who were hard of hearing next door. So we had great parties. If you are 17 or 18 and you’ve got a place of your own, you put the music on pretty loud. We also caused a bit of mayhem at my tennis club. I remember jumping up and down to “Hi Ho Silver Lining” at one party. But the adult members were fed up with us leaving a mess. My first bit of campaigning was going to the AGM of the Mapperley Park Tennis Club and tabling a motion agreeing that we’d mow the grass if they didn’t ban us. 

I remember having conversations with myself at the time. You do stuff for your parents because they’ve been your life – many of us want to make our parents proud. So having lost both parents, I had to think about why I was doing everything. This was my O level year and I’d been a diligent student. I remember saying to myself, ‘You’re doing this for yourself now, mate. So get on with it.’

When you don’t have your parents, you’ve got to holiday for yourself. I did three interrail trips before university. My first was with my mates when I was 16 – I had to talk to their parents, to convince them they could trust their sons with me. It was about escaping and giving myself some space and adjusting to what had happened. I did a lot of travelling as a young person.

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I would tell my younger self to value your family and friends even more. They get you through hard times. I feel lucky that I’m still in touch with quite a few school and university mates. These long-term friendships are hugely meaningful – I went to a 40-year reunion with some schoolmates and found the letters they’d written to me when we were teenagers. I was so touched by the things they said. 

My first recollection of politics was the miners’ strike in 1974. We had power cuts and used a gas lamp for cooking and I remember it being part of the conversation at home. My mother was probably a Heathian Conservative but didn’t have time to be involved in politics. My eldest brother became chair of Nottingham Young Conservatives, so my first meeting was being dragged to a Young Conservatives disco. But I never considered joining the party.

My brothers both got into Oxbridge. So I had role models and people to compete with. It wasn’t a big leap for me to say that’s what I wanted to do as well. Although when I went to visit my eldest brother at uni, it almost put me off. He went to a college with lots of very wealthy public schoolboys, and I didn’t take to that culture.

The book Seeing Green by Jonathon Porritt impacted me more than anything else. It was a worldview I’d never thought of before. At uni, the only group I joined was the Student Ecology Group, which I renamed Green Action. I never joined the Green Party because I never got what their ideology was, but I got really into green economics. If you read Seeing Green you’re also thinking about international development and assisting the poorest in the world. That’s very much part of why I’m a liberal.

Caring has had a big impact on who I am. Being a carer for my mum, then my grandma and now my son made me more empathetic and resilient. Millions of people will have caring responsibilities in their life and we need to support them better. By doing so, you help the social care system, the health service, and it benefits the economy. It is a big social reform and more urgent given the demography of an ageing population. 

We should have fought the Tories more. I was fighting them every day – I even tried to persuade the renewable industry to take my cabinet colleague to court. And the Care Act 2014, implementing the Dilnot Commission, would have been a massive step forward on social care. But they reneged on it. They voted for it, we passed the act of parliament, and the Tories reneged on it. And I’ll never forgive them. I’ll never forgive them for lots of things, but lots of elderly people and disabled people are not getting care because of what they did.

I had to cross a few rubicons at the last election with the stunts and photo ops. If you say something sensible and well-evidenced, it doesn’t get reported as much as if you say nasty things that divide people. So how can people who share the values of the majority of the country get attention? Why should we vacate that space for people on the extreme right who garner attention by doing funny stuff – like Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage pulling pints or going on zip lines. It made people feel they were different from other politicians. So we focused on having a laugh and a message – with the care agenda and talking more about my family, we said, we can make you laugh and cry. Initially, it was uncomfortable because that isn’t what politicians do – but I’m more true to myself than I’ve ever been. 

I’d tell my younger self, if you can, try to find the love of your life earlier! I don’t want to get too much into what happened before I met my wife, but I had some lovely friends, let’s put it like that. But Emily and I really clicked. Housing is a big part of our relationship – we met on a Liberal Democrat housing policy working group. Who said romance is dead? 

I’d love to have one more conversation with my dad. He died aged 38, so I don’t know what my father would have been like. But I do know he had an interest in the Liberals.

Why I Care: And Why Care Matters by Ed Davey is out now (HarperCollins, £20). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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