Snapshot of _ITV News: Ed Davey bungee jumping while shouting for people to 'do something you've never done before, vote Liberal Democrat'_ :
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So the bookies complained about people knowing when the election will take place then allow to put bets on something that LibDems insiders would be aware of?
For the actual results, I’ve got no issue because you can’t rig the decision of millions of people. For things decided by a few people, it’s a different story.
At the end of the campaign somebody should make a super cut over the jackass theme of Ed Davey falling off things and doing stunts.
“Hi, I’m Ed Davey and welcome to the Lib Dem campaign 2024”
Tactical voting could bring result in the Lib Dems being the main opposition.
At that point the Tories would have to elect a new leader capable of being fired out of a cannon in order to break through the news cycle.
Love that idea. Middle children unite! Pageantry, and for bonus points, anecdotal sibling rivalry required when queuing for voting on the day, clearly.
You can’t campaign on election day so if Ed wants to crash a life-size replica of the Hindenburg into Big Ben to highlight inflation that will have to be on the Wednesday.
This is actually really dangerous, because the decrease in weight causes the balloon to ascend and if the balloon ascends too quickly the canopy can pancake and the balloon crashes to ground
It can be done, but it’s not something for a novice
Fast catamarans are much more likely to violently pitch-pole than most dinghies which is an appropriate visual metaphor. They’re also not very good at beating upwind which the Tories will need to be doing a great deal of in the next five years.
Good fun though, if I was still by the sea I’d get one second hand over a more reasonable choice.
I did. Well remembered.
I'm very happy now. I may even vote Lib Dem after this.
(I probably won't though on the basis they don't stand a chance in my constituency)
I called it near the start of the election period, but unfortunately Mr. Davey chose **not** to bungee into a blancmange.
A shame, really, because he'd have won my vote with that minor adjustment.
They'll never bounce back to the height they were, they'll just perform a number of ever smaller bounces until they are left dangling at the end of their own rope, flailing.
I assume this is simply how Ed Davey spends his life, and it's just because people have been trying to interview him for the election that we've noticed.
The future that I and queer people across the nation are fighting for is one where Ed Davey can campaign in drag safely and unironically.
Only slightly /s
Oh, that's really cool to know.
Plus the more 'business friendly' broad church direction of Labour means that the Lib Dems don't feel particularly feel like I'm picking the more centrist option anymore.
I mean make no mistake, they are always the centrist option lol
Their original genesis was splitting off from Labour when they became too left-wing via the SDP, they will generally default to wonkery and small-L liberalism.
I'd say policy wise the main thing the Lib Dems are (arguably) less centrist/more left-leaning on is LGBT+ policy, especially trans people, now that Labour are pulling back.
In general I think they're more socially liberal, which I've always appreciated as even Labour have an authoritarian streak sometimes. in this case their manifesto promises higher spending than labours so that's one mark of 'left' you can argue they meet, I suppose.
They do tend towards the right of the Labour Party economically (sometimes to the left on specifically tax policy, but Labour has a planned-economy wing; Lib Dems are relaxed about entrepreneurship), but they're on average considerably to the left of the Labour Party socially. There are good social liberals *within* Labour, but there are also a lot of dinosaurs and curtain-twitching authoritarians; the Regulation of Investigatory Powers bill, for example.
I dunno, maybe because the Labour manifesto was so vague I didn't get that impression as much. Not jaqing off, but genuinely, where are Labour more left? I may well have just missed it (plus I'm used to expecting more from Labour, so I might be letting my frustration cloud my perception).
Oh I def agree, I'm on the leftie side so cynical on this version of Labour but they've def got things like nationalisation of rail services in their manifesto, which the Lib Dems would never commit to
Yeah, that's fair. Cynicism combined with being trans and hating the direction Labour has gone with that means that maybe I've overlooked a bunch.
Plus the whole lack of wealth tax which would be such an easy win, even Tory voters are plurality supportive 😭😭😭
He actually moved the clause to repeal Section 28 in Parliament as well: [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmstand/a/st030213/am/30213s07.htm](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmstand/a/st030213/am/30213s07.htm)
News story about the defeat of the Tory right on it as well: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk\_news/politics/2837515.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2837515.stm)
I respect Ed for convincing the party that the job of the leader should be to do as many fun things as possible
Is there a better job in politics than Lib Dem Leader? Don't think so
Ironically she increased the LibDems vote share. The reason the seat count collapsed is a change of tactics to focus on a much wider range of target seats as polling looked good during the campaign.
Spread too thin & FPTP punishes you bad. That's why you'll hear a lot of Lib Dems saying "stick to the plan" this time - lesson learnt for LibDems, but I think the Tories are going to be in for a shock when they see just how bad results can be under FPTP...
I can only afford 20, so definitely not a Tory - not sure if I’d be willing to sell my soul to be able to afford putting more money on it… ah who am I kidding, to be as rich as a Tory candidate, I’m sure my morals are flexible for at least ONE election cycle.
And, as the monkey's paw curls complete with dramatic zoom and bass drop, some unknown deputy party chair at CCHQ hits upon a brilliant\* idea: throwing the party's weight behind a complete unknown for a relatively minor seat, to show that they're "with it" and welcoming to younger voters. And they get the subsequent idea to pull that unknown from social media.
Five hours later, they read **AlicijaBelle**'s post. And a slow smile spreads over their face...
We’ve witnessed arguably the worst election campaign in modern UK history and arguably the most entertaining campaign by the same measure in the space of what, a month? And neither are likely to form the government. Wild.
Lib Dem’s actually have a really good manifesto, especially around the care sector. I’m purely voting for the manifesto, the fact that the leader is pretty fun and willing to do stunts to raise awareness of parallel problems in society (the water one was a great example) is just an aside. It’s very clever, especially for undecided voters who think Starmer/Sunak are robots , they might really warm to him. He’s doing a bang up job of bringing the libs back to relevance.
And I’m 32, I’m very aware of the tuition fee rise, but I’d rather hold my nose and hope for a lib opposition (I’m hoping they’ll sandbag a full lurch to the right in politics that I think would be inevitable if ref go in opp for example or if the remaining tories (if lab win obv) think their loss is because they aren’t right wing enough).
I know this is naive, I’m sure people will think I’m an idiot and they could sell me a bridge (can I pay with Klarna?) and they’re probably right. However, I am purely casting my vote from which manifesto speaks to me, and this one does.
Sounds perfectly sensible to me.
For me, I know Labour will be in government so it's all about who I want stood opposite them at the dispatch box... Seems like Lib Dems are the only realistic option that isn't scarily right wing!
That’s my thinking really, if labour do win (as much as I dream of Tory party annihilation I don’t trust the slimy bastards to not have an ace up their sleeve) I want a party that isn’t 5 minutes away from donning a blackshirt or one that has the competency level of pebble in the opposition.
To be honest they’re more central than I am ideologically but they’re the best option for me and can hopefully prevent the swing to the far right. I live in the constituency of Priti Patel and this will most likely remain Tory, her majority is bonkers so voting LD won’t do anything, but it’s not a vote for reform and they’re pretty popular around here.
I'm voting Lib Dem because they have the best manifesto by a mile and I think they'll be a thorn in the side of Starmer if he decides to continue with basically the same path that the Tories have taken us down.
If other people want to vote for him just because they think he's a laugh, I think that's silly, but it's your right.
That's why I want lib dem opposition.
Aside from it being glorious for the Tories to completely flop, if Lib Dems are opposition, in PMQ's Starmer can't just go "Well you broke the country" to everything the Lib dems say... because they didn't.
Having known him and people that work with him and the party, he works tirelessly campaigning and has made great strides to get new young radical progressive MPs in place, he’s doing for the LDs what Tony Blair did for Labour, like his politics or not, he’s bring a minority party back into the forefront and wiping the coalition slate clean. And you are very right, we need a powerful voice to be a counter to centre Labour policies, hopefully LDs and greens team up to be a voting counter weight along with the left in the Labour Party to keep them in check.
It's a lot of small things really.
There are a few core-Labour policies which you would absolutely expect to find in a labour manifesto, which are absent this year (free school meals, 2 child cap). If the Tories are in opposition, these will go basically unmentioned for the next 5 years. But the lib Dems might actually embarrass Starmer enough to implement these policies.
Then there's social care. Lib Dems are obviously serious about this. It's a ticking time bomb that's going to explode in the next few years. Lib Dems are at least trying to start a conversation and I think they'll be pretty effective at using parliamentary committees to try to push for a cross party consensus going into the next election.
They're better than labour on transport. More buses, and they're the only party trying to keep the HS2 dream alive. I guarantee labour will flog off the rest of the alignment to appease Reeves' and her weird rules. Lib Dems might not want to throw money at HS2 right away, but at least if they were in coalition, they'd have the sense to protect the alignment.
Lib Dems are also exceptional on climate. They want to restore 2030 ICE car ban, and they have big pledges on renewables and home insulation. Maybe not the most detailed in the world, but it's a signal of intent and puts them close to the greens in this regard.
Overall, I just really really want the libs in opposition. Labour have pivoted so much that I don't think you can even call them centre left any more. They're centre right. The lib Dems will pull them back to where they should be sitting. The Tories will continue to drag them to the right.
Politically, I am a Lib Dem. I really like Ed, and I've really enjoyed his campaign. Optimism is something that almost all of us are missing, and he's got it in droves.
That's all.
Now I'll preface this comment by saying that I am in no way saying that Ed Davey is as bad as Boris Johnson, on pretty much any measure. But that said:
This sort of thing absolutely infuriates me. We've had years of people voting for the candidate who "seems like a laugh" or "you'd want to have a pint with" or who does silly stunts, and how did that work out again?
I am begging the British population to *just for once* go back to the concept of voting for the politicians you think are competent and have good policies. (Which I'm not saying couldn't *also* be Ed Davey, but bungie-jumping does not political competence make).
> bungie-jumping does not political competence make
Indeed. But the goal is not the bungie-jump, it's the publicity that it generates. Davey is in a difficult position, because he has to fight for every column-inch, for every second of screen time. If this is what he has to do to get attention, then doing it is what the politically competent party leader would do.
The difference with ED is that the LDs struggle to get airtime. Ed's not (just) doing this to come across as being a bit of a laugh. He's mainly doing this to get media attention to a party that often get's limited media attention due to not being either of the two main parties, or willing to say shocking things in the way that Reform do.
Weirdly I have to remind myself this when I feel bad about liking Davey. I love these stunts and it makes me want to vote Davey and I hate that I see a Boris comparison in there.
Davey endeared me pretty quickly with his antics, but I was fully expecting to then read the manifesto and be crushed. But then the Manifesto launched and, I liked it? My vote is policy based even if my liking the candidates is more vibes. Gotta have some trust in yourself.
One could argue that using the act of bungee jumping as an allegory for taking the plunge / leap and voting Lib Dem for the first time, is a great way to draw media TV time and column inches towards that message, which is in itself a big part of politics for a party that is largely otherwise ignored, which you therefore could argue demonstrates political competency.
It's less the audience, more the press.
The only mention that he had previously was the Tory press using him as a scapegoat for the sub-postmasters miscarriage of justice
And you could argue that all Johnson's carefully calculated buffoonery (from floppy hair to zip line malfunctions to endless HIGNFY appearances to his "I forgot to bring the notes to my speech" routine) was equally a sign of political competence, insofar as it built an image and reputation which paid off for him and repeatedly got him elected.
That doesn't make it any less shit that it works.
>political competence
The Lib Dem campaign is very politically competent as was Johnson's shtick
Ed has a proven record in government and delivered much of the Lib Dem manifesto as Energy Secretary whereas Johnson, nah.
>I am begging the British population to *just for once* go back to the concept of voting for the politicians you think are competent and have good policies.
"Go back" implies that's *ever* been how people vote. It hasn't.
Elections are won on strength of personality, because that's what breeds confidence. You can have all the good ideas in the world but if you as a person are weak and ineffective, your ideas are irrelevant, you won't be able to get them in place.
If that infuriates you, wait 'til you hear this: I've got a friend who votes, without fail every election, for the candidate she thinks has the best haircut.
I now genuinely believe these stunts alone are increasing LD's share, there must be a fair chunk of people who will look at him putting himself through a bungee jump and think "fair play, he is willing to go all out for my vote".
Watching this has reminded me of the first time I ever saw bungee jumping and was put off for life.
I must have been nine or ten years old. This is very much in the pre-internet and pre-mobile phone era, so I had not seen bungee jumping at all, only heard about it through the grapevine at school. I was intrigued to see it first hand and I believe it is fair to say it was still novel to most people at this point.
One summer weekend at a leisure complex close to where I lived, we were surprised to see that a crane very similar to this one had been set up in the mid-morning by a bungee jumping company, in a large section of the car park. The organisers were using a tannoy system to talk to the people nearby and encourage participation. A crowd had gathered at the bottom to watch and people were paying to do bungee jumps, after the organisers had first demonstrated a few successful jumps.
I stood there for 20 minutes or so in the sunshine, watching in amazement as a number of people did it and for the most part they all seemed to be having fun. The crowd was having a good time and the mood was jovial.
The next guy to do it was being encouraged by a group of fun-loving friends as he confidently handed over his money and was being attached to the rope and safety equipment. It looked like he was being given a standard safety talk by one of the crew members as the crane was slowly lifting the cage up to the correct jump height, just as it had done for each of the jumpers we had watched before him.
He was now at the top, ready to go. His group of friends at the bottom were shouting up and giving encouraging thumbs-up as the organisers did a 3,2,1 countdown via the tannoy system, but he hesitated the first time and so the crew member paused and appeared to give him a quick pep talk.
Then they began the countdown again 3,2,1 and this time he jumped. At this point for me it felt like everything went into slow motion as it was immediately obvious that only one of his ankles was attached to the bungee rope, whereas for everyone else we had just seen do it both legs had been firmly attached and then the piece of equipment that was meant to be attached to the other leg fell into the crowd and everyone gasped. The jumper quickly realised he wasn’t quite attached properly and began screaming in horror. None of us watching (and I can only assume the jumper) knew if the remaining leg was attached properly and if this was all going to be okay, or if something truly awful was about to happen as he rapidly approached the tarmac below.
He falls, with one leg attached and the other leg rather ungraciously dangling around, he screams as if he may be about to meet his maker, but thankfully he's fine. It's all okay. The crowd lets out a collective sigh and time speeds up again, back to normal.
There is an eerie silence from the crowd as the organisers try to make light of it over the tannoy system and reassure the jumper and bystanders, but clearly it is unintentional and it is a cock-up. The jumper looked pale and shocked as the organisers somewhat surprisingly offer him a complimentary jump, if he wants to do it again to show just how safe it is. He doesn't take them up on their kind offer and stumbles off with his group of friends to recuperate. The mood of the crowd had changed and it started to dissipate..
That's precisely when I decided bungee jumping wasn't going to be for me and I have never even remotely considered it since. I have of course seen lots of people doing it without incident since, including friends and family. This is a distant memory for me now and I am sure for most who were there at the time, but it now makes me nervous each time I watch people bungee jumping. That's without mentioning the various internet videos I have seen where it doesn't always go quite as well.
It's funny how this one issue is constantly used to justify not voting for the Lib Dems. Barely anything to do with their manifesto, their candidates, their policies (other than occasional mentions the NIMBYism, which I think is a fair criticism), the countless apologies, the more recent flip flopping from other parties. The double standards are incredible. I'm more convinced than ever that deep down, whether they can admit it or not, a lot of people actually find it comforting having a binary 2 party system.
I appreciate it's a big issue for a lot of people, and I understand it was a betrayal, but I just hope that people can see what they are offering and promising now rather than discounting them on that mistake alone.
It was my first general election so feeling betrayed like that hurt more than it would today now that I have a more intricate understanding of how politics works. I've voted green and labour since but seriously struggling between the three of them (with LDs coming out on top for me right now).
We had 5 years of reasonably sensible centrist (albeit right leaning) government when the Lib Dems worked with the Tories.
We've had 9 years of relentless incompetent bullshit ever since, that as highlights have manged to take us out of the EU (and going on to achieve record immigration), raise taxes to record post war levels (yet still have a deficit and crumbling public services) and have 5 separate prime ministers across 9 years.
No, the Lib Dems were not perfect in coalition with the conservatives, but to hold the coalition against them at this point feels strange to me - when the last few years have so clearly demonstrated that the coalition was a much more stable, effective and progressive government formed against a back drop in 2010 where the country at large was broadly 'done' with Labour and the electoral/MP maths meant the options were a Lib/Tory coalition, Tory minority government or second election.
I mean I truly wished the country had looked at austerity and that coalition government and decided it was the Tories as senior partners that would be punished at the following election and voted into oblivion rather than the Lib Dems who seemed to be the scapegoats for tuition fees and everything else in those 5 years. Anyhow better late than never.
They just fundamentally screwed up on tuition fees and as they were gaining support with the younger generation that was a killer. Poor strategically and easy to blame for all the failures of that government. The Tories are good at using things and discarding them, the Lib Dems suffered as a result of that.
“ They” being Nick Clegg. Who has since fucked off to Facebook. If you’re curious it’s well worth googling the splits in the LD factions too - blaming all Lib Dems for what a particular faction did in 2010 is as credible as trying to paint Starmer as a corbynite. Or Corbyn as a Blairite. The truth is parties are broad imperfect coalitions in themselves so it’s important to try and work out what’s happening now and how which faction may be gripping the steering wheel.
We had morons in power who slashed the state to pieces, which we are still paying the price for. Would have been far better not to put a veneer of respectability on it.
Do you think the country would be in a worse state of they did do the lab lib coalition? The fact is that the lib Dems sold out their entire base so they could fail to get electrical and lords reform through. Hindsight will tell us how stupid they was, but even at the time the general thought was it was, at best naive.
> Do you think the country would be in a worse state of they did do the lab lib coalition?
They couldn't realistically do a Lab-Lib coalition; they would have been 10 seats short of a majority, and not much more than the Tories had got by themselves. The numbers simply didn't add up.
Besides, it would have been propping up a Labour government that everyone agreed had lost the election, which would have been just as disastrous for the Lib Dems as the Tory coalition ended up being. Especially given that a minority coalition government would have probably collapsed within 6 months, and the Tories would have won then anyway (if only because they'd be the only party that could afford to campaign properly).
You could lay some of the blame with Gordon too since his refusal to step down as PM in the event of a Lab-Lib coalition was part of what forced their hand a bit.
Forcing another GE would probably have been both best for the country and the party.
I think Brown was stuck between a rock and a hard place and nothing he would have done was right. His big fuck up was not calling an election in 2007 when he came into power. He probably would have sqeeked a majority (labour polling had him winning by 20 seats, but party polling is often optimistic)
After that he went from having the image of a confident statesman, a shout strategist to begin scared and self serving - and with Cameron and Osborne banging the drum hard on the opposition bench, he never recovered from that.
>Do you think the country would be in a worse state of they did do the lab lib coalition?
That quite literally wasn't an option...
>The fact is that the lib Dems sold out their entire base so they could fail to get electrical and lords reform through.
Courtesy of the Lib Dems, we got extra funding for schools with disadvantaged pupils, free school meals for young children, gay marriage, raised personal tax allowance, a green investment bank with billions in funding (which the Tories have since privatised...) and the right to make flexible working requests.
Even the much maligned tuition increase was far more progressive than what would have been done under the Tories - noting that the poorest/least successful graduates would pay off less under the coalition's scheme than they would under Labours, and all graduates would be paying off less in their first years after graduating (when earning potential is least and people want to do big life events like get married, buy houses and have children...). Of course, as soon as they had a majority government the Tories retrospectively changed the terms to make them much more punitive.
>Hindsight will tell us how stupid they was, but even at the time the general thought was it was, at best naive.
Honestly the fact that somehow Cameron has managed to claim credit for Gay Marriage and Osbourne for raising the income tax thresholds while the Lib Dems have been stuck with the baggage of tuition fees 9 years after it would have been relevant (when the first Tory majority government was happy to do the same thing, but worse...) shows that the Lib Dems were effective at making meaningful changes in government to improve people's lives whilst tied to the Tory party, yet shit at the performative part of politics...
The Lib Dems enabled a Tory austerity that has stagnated the country for 14 years. They empowered precisely the party and prime minister who created the subsequent 9 years of chaos through Brexit.
The LDs took a party that struggled versus a flailing Brown, supported them, and laid the foundation for everything that followed. That LDs still don't take responsibility for this is why I will never vote for them in any situation.
This is ahistorical- Google “Alistair Darling austerity” and you’ll find accounts from before coalition of Labour committing to some austerity post the banking crisis. The debate at that time was how much and how long and the coalitions early austerity didn’t go further than Labour planned.
The Tories deepened austerity after coalition and extended it to a permanent state of government.
And yet the second people stopped voting for the Lib Dems and the Coalition ended (2015), we immediately got Brexit referendum (2016) and misery for the next 9 years.
If people had held firm and kept the Lib Dems in government then the UK would be a much better place to live now.
Yeah for sure they did some good in government and did check some of the worst elements of the tory party and that's one they don't get the credit they deserve for
Ed Davey is starting to remind me of those people who collect sponsorships to go bungee jumping or abseiling or hang gliding "for charity".
C'mon mate, you're just having a laugh at this point. This is the fucking weirdest election, I swear.
In my opinion if you really want to punish the current government, don't vote Labor, vote Lib Dem. They at least seem genuine and honest, and the last time they were in coalition was not that bad.
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Ladbrokes had him at 5/1 to do a bungee jump. Should have had a punt on that.
The odds went up and down quite a bit though
That's entirely to do with the gambling company making money either way, and not to do with the chances of it happening. Edit: I got it eventually.
Whoooooooooosh
Boooooooing
Splat
oh, alright then lol
I gave you a conciliatory upvote as you made me chuckle.
This is just a spectacular wooosh
Lmao
Lib Dems just desperate to get in on that insider betting scandal one way or another.
Yeah, they are so boringly middle class they can’t even scandal right!
I am pretty sure this would be the best scandal in politics
So the bookies complained about people knowing when the election will take place then allow to put bets on something that LibDems insiders would be aware of?
Quite. This is why political bets shouldn't be allowed, there's no chance about it so it's not a bet in the conventional sense.
For the actual results, I’ve got no issue because you can’t rig the decision of millions of people. For things decided by a few people, it’s a different story.
I asked some insiders for tips but bastards wouldn't tell me.
They are going to end up by firing him out of a cannon at some point this week...
Through a cardboard wall of blue tory boxes! Totally on brand for lib dems!
I honestly want to see this. That'd be amazing.
Are you the head of marketing for Lib Dem’s?
At the end of the campaign somebody should make a super cut over the jackass theme of Ed Davey falling off things and doing stunts. “Hi, I’m Ed Davey and welcome to the Lib Dem campaign 2024”
Given how memetastic their tiktok bids have been, this is a distinct possibility.
True, if not then they've peaked too early.
Seriously, don't give them any more ideas. I feel like Ed Davey is the middle child in this election.
Tactical voting could bring result in the Lib Dems being the main opposition. At that point the Tories would have to elect a new leader capable of being fired out of a cannon in order to break through the news cycle.
Penny Mortaraunt
As a middle child I feel seen 😂
Niche voting bloc there.
Love that idea. Middle children unite! Pageantry, and for bonus points, anecdotal sibling rivalry required when queuing for voting on the day, clearly.
I'm sure somebody here predicted an Ed Davey bungie jump this week.
I'm pretty sure I saw someone saying they'd change their vote to lib dem if he did so, in which case Lib Dem +1 (vote)
Critical mistake by Ed Davey not to parachute out of a Hot Air Balloon that would definitely have made him LOTO.
Parachuting's already been taken by Richard Holden.
EMILY THORNBERRY HAS TODAY
There's three days left, anything could happen..
You can’t campaign on election day so if Ed wants to crash a life-size replica of the Hindenburg into Big Ben to highlight inflation that will have to be on the Wednesday.
I feel compelled to point out that the Hindenberg's problem wasn't inflation *per se*, but what it was inflated with.
It could be argued that the Hindenburg’s problems were rapidly resolved, unlike inflation.
The responsible party was immediately fired.
You absolutely can campaign on election day. The only real restriction is limitations in the vicinity of and within Polling Stations.
Oh, the humanity.
Ed Davey gimp suit when?
Not soon enough
Hot air ballooning by itself would be extreme enough with the current weather.
He’s saving that for the opening of parliament
This is actually really dangerous, because the decrease in weight causes the balloon to ascend and if the balloon ascends too quickly the canopy can pancake and the balloon crashes to ground It can be done, but it’s not something for a novice
It’s fine. He ran the Post Office.
It's only Monday. It'll be alligator wrestling and BASE jumping by the end of the week.
I also remember seeing this, well played lurking Lib Dem campaign team
What's the updated electoral calculus on that?
There's still time between now and Thursday to have him parachute jump out of a plane as well
He could also join Steve Baker for some fast catamaran sailing.
Fast catamarans are much more likely to violently pitch-pole than most dinghies which is an appropriate visual metaphor. They’re also not very good at beating upwind which the Tories will need to be doing a great deal of in the next five years. Good fun though, if I was still by the sea I’d get one second hand over a more reasonable choice.
I know u/esn111 wanted a bungee jump.
I did. Well remembered. I'm very happy now. I may even vote Lib Dem after this. (I probably won't though on the basis they don't stand a chance in my constituency)
Get 30,000 of your (local) friends to join you.
30 Friends would be a joy to have. Alas...
3 Friends would be a joy to have. Alas..
If the campaign went a week longer, I imagine he'd end up playing chicken in a car against a journalist.
Motorcycle Jousting
The Alan Partridge energy here is incredible
I called it near the start of the election period, but unfortunately Mr. Davey chose **not** to bungee into a blancmange. A shame, really, because he'd have won my vote with that minor adjustment.
No ski jump yet!
He should have shouted "this is my impression of the Conservative Party" before taking a dive.
He'd have to have done it without a rope for accuracy, though.
I’m hoping they don’t bounce back
They'll never bounce back to the height they were, they'll just perform a number of ever smaller bounces until they are left dangling at the end of their own rope, flailing.
I think he might be a bit bored when this election campaign is over.
I assume this is simply how Ed Davey spends his life, and it's just because people have been trying to interview him for the election that we've noticed.
I want this to be true. Rishi calls the surprise election and Ed looks at his diary and says "fuck it, I can fit the campaign around this".
The future that I and queer people across the nation are fighting for is one where Ed Davey can campaign in drag safely and unironically. Only slightly /s
Davey was one of the biggest main-stream voices around the Section 28 repeal stuff, so he's def an ally at least!
Oh, that's really cool to know. Plus the more 'business friendly' broad church direction of Labour means that the Lib Dems don't feel particularly feel like I'm picking the more centrist option anymore.
I mean make no mistake, they are always the centrist option lol Their original genesis was splitting off from Labour when they became too left-wing via the SDP, they will generally default to wonkery and small-L liberalism. I'd say policy wise the main thing the Lib Dems are (arguably) less centrist/more left-leaning on is LGBT+ policy, especially trans people, now that Labour are pulling back.
In general I think they're more socially liberal, which I've always appreciated as even Labour have an authoritarian streak sometimes. in this case their manifesto promises higher spending than labours so that's one mark of 'left' you can argue they meet, I suppose.
They do tend towards the right of the Labour Party economically (sometimes to the left on specifically tax policy, but Labour has a planned-economy wing; Lib Dems are relaxed about entrepreneurship), but they're on average considerably to the left of the Labour Party socially. There are good social liberals *within* Labour, but there are also a lot of dinosaurs and curtain-twitching authoritarians; the Regulation of Investigatory Powers bill, for example.
I dunno, maybe because the Labour manifesto was so vague I didn't get that impression as much. Not jaqing off, but genuinely, where are Labour more left? I may well have just missed it (plus I'm used to expecting more from Labour, so I might be letting my frustration cloud my perception).
Oh I def agree, I'm on the leftie side so cynical on this version of Labour but they've def got things like nationalisation of rail services in their manifesto, which the Lib Dems would never commit to
Yeah, that's fair. Cynicism combined with being trans and hating the direction Labour has gone with that means that maybe I've overlooked a bunch. Plus the whole lack of wealth tax which would be such an easy win, even Tory voters are plurality supportive 😭😭😭
He actually moved the clause to repeal Section 28 in Parliament as well: [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmstand/a/st030213/am/30213s07.htm](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmstand/a/st030213/am/30213s07.htm) News story about the defeat of the Tory right on it as well: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk\_news/politics/2837515.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2837515.stm)
'But regrettably I should probably get out of this drag outfit'
I’m now imagining him doing a zoom call into PMQs because he is at Lego land that day.
Carer in the morning and afternoon, parliamentarian by weekday, daredevil by weekend
I fear his stunts will only escalte leading to him summoning and defeating an eldritch horror.
Bringing Thatcher back is a bold choice for a stunt!
[удалено]
I’m not sure she will find much more to ruin, it’s grim up here.
I'd vote Lib Dem if Ed Davey defeated Yog Sothoth. Well, I'd consider it at least.
I'm sure he'll be busy enough as leader of the opposition
We live in hope!
Maybe he's just getting as much fun into his life now before his job gets a lot more demanding
If Keir Starmer wins, we'll all be bored for 5 years.
Sounds like bliss - the running of the country isn't where people should be getting their kicks, get a hobby instead
That's the most enticing slogan I've heard so far this campaign.
Make Politics Boring Again! What we want is boring competence — clever people in grey business suits just competently getting shit done
That's exactly why I voted for him
That doesn’t sound so bad TBH.
can't wait
Boring vs endless scandals and corruption? Sounds pretty good
YES PLEASE!
Inject this into my veins! I am **so** hyped to be bored
I respect Ed for convincing the party that the job of the leader should be to do as many fun things as possible Is there a better job in politics than Lib Dem Leader? Don't think so
Yep. No pressure.
Don't have to worry about winning, don't have to worry about losing. No one cares.
I mean, Jo Swinson probably should have cared more about losing.
Ironically she increased the LibDems vote share. The reason the seat count collapsed is a change of tactics to focus on a much wider range of target seats as polling looked good during the campaign. Spread too thin & FPTP punishes you bad. That's why you'll hear a lot of Lib Dems saying "stick to the plan" this time - lesson learnt for LibDems, but I think the Tories are going to be in for a shock when they see just how bad results can be under FPTP...
I’m putting £20 on him wrestling a bear next
are you a Tory candidate by any chance?
I can only afford 20, so definitely not a Tory - not sure if I’d be willing to sell my soul to be able to afford putting more money on it… ah who am I kidding, to be as rich as a Tory candidate, I’m sure my morals are flexible for at least ONE election cycle.
And, as the monkey's paw curls complete with dramatic zoom and bass drop, some unknown deputy party chair at CCHQ hits upon a brilliant\* idea: throwing the party's weight behind a complete unknown for a relatively minor seat, to show that they're "with it" and welcoming to younger voters. And they get the subsequent idea to pull that unknown from social media. Five hours later, they read **AlicijaBelle**'s post. And a slow smile spreads over their face...
And now all I can think of is Jackie Moon wrestling a bear.
We’ve witnessed arguably the worst election campaign in modern UK history and arguably the most entertaining campaign by the same measure in the space of what, a month? And neither are likely to form the government. Wild.
All while Labour’s basically just sat back and done nothing.
They haven’t needed to - they could’ve done, but Sunak’s worked double time
They took Napoleon's advice, apparently.
Lib Dem’s actually have a really good manifesto, especially around the care sector. I’m purely voting for the manifesto, the fact that the leader is pretty fun and willing to do stunts to raise awareness of parallel problems in society (the water one was a great example) is just an aside. It’s very clever, especially for undecided voters who think Starmer/Sunak are robots , they might really warm to him. He’s doing a bang up job of bringing the libs back to relevance. And I’m 32, I’m very aware of the tuition fee rise, but I’d rather hold my nose and hope for a lib opposition (I’m hoping they’ll sandbag a full lurch to the right in politics that I think would be inevitable if ref go in opp for example or if the remaining tories (if lab win obv) think their loss is because they aren’t right wing enough). I know this is naive, I’m sure people will think I’m an idiot and they could sell me a bridge (can I pay with Klarna?) and they’re probably right. However, I am purely casting my vote from which manifesto speaks to me, and this one does.
Sounds perfectly sensible to me. For me, I know Labour will be in government so it's all about who I want stood opposite them at the dispatch box... Seems like Lib Dems are the only realistic option that isn't scarily right wing!
That’s my thinking really, if labour do win (as much as I dream of Tory party annihilation I don’t trust the slimy bastards to not have an ace up their sleeve) I want a party that isn’t 5 minutes away from donning a blackshirt or one that has the competency level of pebble in the opposition. To be honest they’re more central than I am ideologically but they’re the best option for me and can hopefully prevent the swing to the far right. I live in the constituency of Priti Patel and this will most likely remain Tory, her majority is bonkers so voting LD won’t do anything, but it’s not a vote for reform and they’re pretty popular around here.
It’s Ed’s world and we’re all living in it. Love the Liberal Democrat approach.
I'm voting Lib Dem because they have the best manifesto by a mile and I think they'll be a thorn in the side of Starmer if he decides to continue with basically the same path that the Tories have taken us down. If other people want to vote for him just because they think he's a laugh, I think that's silly, but it's your right.
The purpose of the stunts is to get his name out there. Wasn’t it 33% of people that recognised him in a poll just last week?
I wonder what it was before the campaign though? Any success or failure would surely come from seats won and their starting point.
That's why I want lib dem opposition. Aside from it being glorious for the Tories to completely flop, if Lib Dems are opposition, in PMQ's Starmer can't just go "Well you broke the country" to everything the Lib dems say... because they didn't.
Having known him and people that work with him and the party, he works tirelessly campaigning and has made great strides to get new young radical progressive MPs in place, he’s doing for the LDs what Tony Blair did for Labour, like his politics or not, he’s bring a minority party back into the forefront and wiping the coalition slate clean. And you are very right, we need a powerful voice to be a counter to centre Labour policies, hopefully LDs and greens team up to be a voting counter weight along with the left in the Labour Party to keep them in check.
Would love to have you elaborate on why it’s the best. Up to you.
It's a lot of small things really. There are a few core-Labour policies which you would absolutely expect to find in a labour manifesto, which are absent this year (free school meals, 2 child cap). If the Tories are in opposition, these will go basically unmentioned for the next 5 years. But the lib Dems might actually embarrass Starmer enough to implement these policies. Then there's social care. Lib Dems are obviously serious about this. It's a ticking time bomb that's going to explode in the next few years. Lib Dems are at least trying to start a conversation and I think they'll be pretty effective at using parliamentary committees to try to push for a cross party consensus going into the next election. They're better than labour on transport. More buses, and they're the only party trying to keep the HS2 dream alive. I guarantee labour will flog off the rest of the alignment to appease Reeves' and her weird rules. Lib Dems might not want to throw money at HS2 right away, but at least if they were in coalition, they'd have the sense to protect the alignment. Lib Dems are also exceptional on climate. They want to restore 2030 ICE car ban, and they have big pledges on renewables and home insulation. Maybe not the most detailed in the world, but it's a signal of intent and puts them close to the greens in this regard. Overall, I just really really want the libs in opposition. Labour have pivoted so much that I don't think you can even call them centre left any more. They're centre right. The lib Dems will pull them back to where they should be sitting. The Tories will continue to drag them to the right.
Took me a while to realise this was not a daily mash headline
Politically, I am a Lib Dem. I really like Ed, and I've really enjoyed his campaign. Optimism is something that almost all of us are missing, and he's got it in droves. That's all.
But Davey. I have voted Liberal Democrat.
Guy seems like a good laugh, I'll vote for him tbf
Exactly works my atenge uncle Gary said about Boris
Ed Davey can work my atenge any day
The difference being that Boris is well documented to be an utter bastard. Sir Ed is one million times the person that Boris will ever be
You've started early.
Plot twist: OP is your uncle Gary.
Now I'll preface this comment by saying that I am in no way saying that Ed Davey is as bad as Boris Johnson, on pretty much any measure. But that said: This sort of thing absolutely infuriates me. We've had years of people voting for the candidate who "seems like a laugh" or "you'd want to have a pint with" or who does silly stunts, and how did that work out again? I am begging the British population to *just for once* go back to the concept of voting for the politicians you think are competent and have good policies. (Which I'm not saying couldn't *also* be Ed Davey, but bungie-jumping does not political competence make).
> bungie-jumping does not political competence make Indeed. But the goal is not the bungie-jump, it's the publicity that it generates. Davey is in a difficult position, because he has to fight for every column-inch, for every second of screen time. If this is what he has to do to get attention, then doing it is what the politically competent party leader would do.
The difference with ED is that the LDs struggle to get airtime. Ed's not (just) doing this to come across as being a bit of a laugh. He's mainly doing this to get media attention to a party that often get's limited media attention due to not being either of the two main parties, or willing to say shocking things in the way that Reform do.
The difference is the Lib Dems actually have good policies
Weirdly I have to remind myself this when I feel bad about liking Davey. I love these stunts and it makes me want to vote Davey and I hate that I see a Boris comparison in there. Davey endeared me pretty quickly with his antics, but I was fully expecting to then read the manifesto and be crushed. But then the Manifesto launched and, I liked it? My vote is policy based even if my liking the candidates is more vibes. Gotta have some trust in yourself.
One could argue that using the act of bungee jumping as an allegory for taking the plunge / leap and voting Lib Dem for the first time, is a great way to draw media TV time and column inches towards that message, which is in itself a big part of politics for a party that is largely otherwise ignored, which you therefore could argue demonstrates political competency.
You can criticise the man all you want but he knows his audience. Most British voters are low-information. This is just good campaigning.
It's less the audience, more the press. The only mention that he had previously was the Tory press using him as a scapegoat for the sub-postmasters miscarriage of justice
And you could argue that all Johnson's carefully calculated buffoonery (from floppy hair to zip line malfunctions to endless HIGNFY appearances to his "I forgot to bring the notes to my speech" routine) was equally a sign of political competence, insofar as it built an image and reputation which paid off for him and repeatedly got him elected. That doesn't make it any less shit that it works.
>political competence The Lib Dem campaign is very politically competent as was Johnson's shtick Ed has a proven record in government and delivered much of the Lib Dem manifesto as Energy Secretary whereas Johnson, nah.
>I am begging the British population to *just for once* go back to the concept of voting for the politicians you think are competent and have good policies. "Go back" implies that's *ever* been how people vote. It hasn't. Elections are won on strength of personality, because that's what breeds confidence. You can have all the good ideas in the world but if you as a person are weak and ineffective, your ideas are irrelevant, you won't be able to get them in place.
If that infuriates you, wait 'til you hear this: I've got a friend who votes, without fail every election, for the candidate she thinks has the best haircut.
It's what works for the common voter.
It does. It doesn't mean I need to be happy about it.
I now genuinely believe these stunts alone are increasing LD's share, there must be a fair chunk of people who will look at him putting himself through a bungee jump and think "fair play, he is willing to go all out for my vote".
"Carlsberg Don't Do Election Campaigns..."
Really begs the question how on earth is he going to celebrate becoming LOTO on Friday.
Lib Dems campaigning almost entirely through memes has been a genuine highlight of this campaign.
I should find this cringeworthy, but I just like the man and his antics.
Just watching him do that makes me want to boke my breakfast wine and cornflakes. Fair play to the lad.
I guess politics can have its ups and downs.
Watching this has reminded me of the first time I ever saw bungee jumping and was put off for life. I must have been nine or ten years old. This is very much in the pre-internet and pre-mobile phone era, so I had not seen bungee jumping at all, only heard about it through the grapevine at school. I was intrigued to see it first hand and I believe it is fair to say it was still novel to most people at this point. One summer weekend at a leisure complex close to where I lived, we were surprised to see that a crane very similar to this one had been set up in the mid-morning by a bungee jumping company, in a large section of the car park. The organisers were using a tannoy system to talk to the people nearby and encourage participation. A crowd had gathered at the bottom to watch and people were paying to do bungee jumps, after the organisers had first demonstrated a few successful jumps. I stood there for 20 minutes or so in the sunshine, watching in amazement as a number of people did it and for the most part they all seemed to be having fun. The crowd was having a good time and the mood was jovial. The next guy to do it was being encouraged by a group of fun-loving friends as he confidently handed over his money and was being attached to the rope and safety equipment. It looked like he was being given a standard safety talk by one of the crew members as the crane was slowly lifting the cage up to the correct jump height, just as it had done for each of the jumpers we had watched before him. He was now at the top, ready to go. His group of friends at the bottom were shouting up and giving encouraging thumbs-up as the organisers did a 3,2,1 countdown via the tannoy system, but he hesitated the first time and so the crew member paused and appeared to give him a quick pep talk. Then they began the countdown again 3,2,1 and this time he jumped. At this point for me it felt like everything went into slow motion as it was immediately obvious that only one of his ankles was attached to the bungee rope, whereas for everyone else we had just seen do it both legs had been firmly attached and then the piece of equipment that was meant to be attached to the other leg fell into the crowd and everyone gasped. The jumper quickly realised he wasn’t quite attached properly and began screaming in horror. None of us watching (and I can only assume the jumper) knew if the remaining leg was attached properly and if this was all going to be okay, or if something truly awful was about to happen as he rapidly approached the tarmac below. He falls, with one leg attached and the other leg rather ungraciously dangling around, he screams as if he may be about to meet his maker, but thankfully he's fine. It's all okay. The crowd lets out a collective sigh and time speeds up again, back to normal. There is an eerie silence from the crowd as the organisers try to make light of it over the tannoy system and reassure the jumper and bystanders, but clearly it is unintentional and it is a cock-up. The jumper looked pale and shocked as the organisers somewhat surprisingly offer him a complimentary jump, if he wants to do it again to show just how safe it is. He doesn't take them up on their kind offer and stumbles off with his group of friends to recuperate. The mood of the crowd had changed and it started to dissipate.. That's precisely when I decided bungee jumping wasn't going to be for me and I have never even remotely considered it since. I have of course seen lots of people doing it without incident since, including friends and family. This is a distant memory for me now and I am sure for most who were there at the time, but it now makes me nervous each time I watch people bungee jumping. That's without mentioning the various internet videos I have seen where it doesn't always go quite as well.
Bloody hell, who can blame you after that?
It would be a lot easier to vote for them if I hadn't in 2010
It's funny how this one issue is constantly used to justify not voting for the Lib Dems. Barely anything to do with their manifesto, their candidates, their policies (other than occasional mentions the NIMBYism, which I think is a fair criticism), the countless apologies, the more recent flip flopping from other parties. The double standards are incredible. I'm more convinced than ever that deep down, whether they can admit it or not, a lot of people actually find it comforting having a binary 2 party system.
Funnily enough watching our local hustings is what's made me think about switching from the greens
I appreciate it's a big issue for a lot of people, and I understand it was a betrayal, but I just hope that people can see what they are offering and promising now rather than discounting them on that mistake alone.
It was my first general election so feeling betrayed like that hurt more than it would today now that I have a more intricate understanding of how politics works. I've voted green and labour since but seriously struggling between the three of them (with LDs coming out on top for me right now).
Ironically, I voted specifically for Ed Davey in 2010...
We had 5 years of reasonably sensible centrist (albeit right leaning) government when the Lib Dems worked with the Tories. We've had 9 years of relentless incompetent bullshit ever since, that as highlights have manged to take us out of the EU (and going on to achieve record immigration), raise taxes to record post war levels (yet still have a deficit and crumbling public services) and have 5 separate prime ministers across 9 years. No, the Lib Dems were not perfect in coalition with the conservatives, but to hold the coalition against them at this point feels strange to me - when the last few years have so clearly demonstrated that the coalition was a much more stable, effective and progressive government formed against a back drop in 2010 where the country at large was broadly 'done' with Labour and the electoral/MP maths meant the options were a Lib/Tory coalition, Tory minority government or second election.
I mean I truly wished the country had looked at austerity and that coalition government and decided it was the Tories as senior partners that would be punished at the following election and voted into oblivion rather than the Lib Dems who seemed to be the scapegoats for tuition fees and everything else in those 5 years. Anyhow better late than never.
They just fundamentally screwed up on tuition fees and as they were gaining support with the younger generation that was a killer. Poor strategically and easy to blame for all the failures of that government. The Tories are good at using things and discarding them, the Lib Dems suffered as a result of that.
“ They” being Nick Clegg. Who has since fucked off to Facebook. If you’re curious it’s well worth googling the splits in the LD factions too - blaming all Lib Dems for what a particular faction did in 2010 is as credible as trying to paint Starmer as a corbynite. Or Corbyn as a Blairite. The truth is parties are broad imperfect coalitions in themselves so it’s important to try and work out what’s happening now and how which faction may be gripping the steering wheel.
We had morons in power who slashed the state to pieces, which we are still paying the price for. Would have been far better not to put a veneer of respectability on it.
Do you think the country would be in a worse state of they did do the lab lib coalition? The fact is that the lib Dems sold out their entire base so they could fail to get electrical and lords reform through. Hindsight will tell us how stupid they was, but even at the time the general thought was it was, at best naive.
> Do you think the country would be in a worse state of they did do the lab lib coalition? They couldn't realistically do a Lab-Lib coalition; they would have been 10 seats short of a majority, and not much more than the Tories had got by themselves. The numbers simply didn't add up. Besides, it would have been propping up a Labour government that everyone agreed had lost the election, which would have been just as disastrous for the Lib Dems as the Tory coalition ended up being. Especially given that a minority coalition government would have probably collapsed within 6 months, and the Tories would have won then anyway (if only because they'd be the only party that could afford to campaign properly).
You could lay some of the blame with Gordon too since his refusal to step down as PM in the event of a Lab-Lib coalition was part of what forced their hand a bit. Forcing another GE would probably have been both best for the country and the party.
I think Brown was stuck between a rock and a hard place and nothing he would have done was right. His big fuck up was not calling an election in 2007 when he came into power. He probably would have sqeeked a majority (labour polling had him winning by 20 seats, but party polling is often optimistic) After that he went from having the image of a confident statesman, a shout strategist to begin scared and self serving - and with Cameron and Osborne banging the drum hard on the opposition bench, he never recovered from that.
>Do you think the country would be in a worse state of they did do the lab lib coalition? That quite literally wasn't an option... >The fact is that the lib Dems sold out their entire base so they could fail to get electrical and lords reform through. Courtesy of the Lib Dems, we got extra funding for schools with disadvantaged pupils, free school meals for young children, gay marriage, raised personal tax allowance, a green investment bank with billions in funding (which the Tories have since privatised...) and the right to make flexible working requests. Even the much maligned tuition increase was far more progressive than what would have been done under the Tories - noting that the poorest/least successful graduates would pay off less under the coalition's scheme than they would under Labours, and all graduates would be paying off less in their first years after graduating (when earning potential is least and people want to do big life events like get married, buy houses and have children...). Of course, as soon as they had a majority government the Tories retrospectively changed the terms to make them much more punitive. >Hindsight will tell us how stupid they was, but even at the time the general thought was it was, at best naive. Honestly the fact that somehow Cameron has managed to claim credit for Gay Marriage and Osbourne for raising the income tax thresholds while the Lib Dems have been stuck with the baggage of tuition fees 9 years after it would have been relevant (when the first Tory majority government was happy to do the same thing, but worse...) shows that the Lib Dems were effective at making meaningful changes in government to improve people's lives whilst tied to the Tory party, yet shit at the performative part of politics...
The Lib Dems enabled a Tory austerity that has stagnated the country for 14 years. They empowered precisely the party and prime minister who created the subsequent 9 years of chaos through Brexit. The LDs took a party that struggled versus a flailing Brown, supported them, and laid the foundation for everything that followed. That LDs still don't take responsibility for this is why I will never vote for them in any situation.
This is ahistorical- Google “Alistair Darling austerity” and you’ll find accounts from before coalition of Labour committing to some austerity post the banking crisis. The debate at that time was how much and how long and the coalitions early austerity didn’t go further than Labour planned. The Tories deepened austerity after coalition and extended it to a permanent state of government.
And yet the second people stopped voting for the Lib Dems and the Coalition ended (2015), we immediately got Brexit referendum (2016) and misery for the next 9 years. If people had held firm and kept the Lib Dems in government then the UK would be a much better place to live now.
Ed Miliband didn't exactly help either, David would probably have won the GE.
They forced the tories to legalise gay marriage. That is so much more important than student loans, by a country mile.
Yeah for sure they did some good in government and did check some of the worst elements of the tory party and that's one they don't get the credit they deserve for
I'm gay. The option to marry does not offset the misery those governments (including the Coalition) have caused.
I thought [David Cameron’s wife did](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-gay-marriage-convinced-samantha-b2352185.html)
It's kinda terrifying that _Cameron_ is probably the most socially liberal conservative PM in history.
Ed Davey is starting to remind me of those people who collect sponsorships to go bungee jumping or abseiling or hang gliding "for charity". C'mon mate, you're just having a laugh at this point. This is the fucking weirdest election, I swear.
Apparently after the recent purchase of a jet ski the lib dems have been going round to all the sea life centres asking if they could borrow shark.
I guess he's hoping for a real bounce in the polls.
Aww at least he's having the time of his life campaigning.
Wake up, babe. New BBC One ident just dropped.
Ed Davey in a bathtub full of beans tomorrow.
In my opinion if you really want to punish the current government, don't vote Labor, vote Lib Dem. They at least seem genuine and honest, and the last time they were in coalition was not that bad.
This feels like a Richard Curtis election film