Sir Ed Davey (Part Two)
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What early experiences shaped Sir Ed Davey's path to politics?
Welcome to part two of Walking the Dog with leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davy. If you want to know a bit more about Ed and what got him into politics, I also really recommend reading his book Why I Care and Why Care Matters, which is out now in paperback. Really hope you enjoy part two of our walk and do give us a like and a follow so you can catch us every week. Here's Ed and Ray Ray. So tell me after Oxford and I get the sense that Oxford obviously it was very different then. It's a slightly more inclusive place now. Both those universities are, but back then things were a little bit more shades of Bullingdon at certain colleges. Well,
um I deliberately didn't go to those colleges, right? So
back, sorry.
Hello, Wardens.
My uh brother ended up at Oriel College.
Because that's quite traditional. Which
is very, very traditional, very public schooly. And the f I remember when when we visited him, we with me and m uh my other brother, so three of us in his little room. And uh we opened the door and uh my first recollection of other students at Oxford was these two uh girls dressed in their pajamas, women, yeah uh going down the corridor saying and one said to the other, Oh daffers, I've got champers all over my gym jams. Uh and apparently. Apparently they were going to some champagne breakfast party organised by two guys from Harrow down the the corridor, so I thought, Mm, this is not quite me. Uh um but it was very funny. Um
You've ne there's things like that you just never forget,
do you?
And so I'm never gonna forget that. I might quote
them.
Um
and uh But
you would use a switch is a bit smaller, more what's kinda warmer? Ch
Charles had a friend at Jesus and when I visited him one day I went to see went to visit her and I just liked the feel of the corridor. It was completely different from Oriol. Uh it was uh well known for having a high proportion of state uh school uh students.
Yeah.
So it had a completely different feel and and I loved it. And um I was very fortunate to get a place there and um
And you when you left, it feels like did you start you started working as a parliamentary researcher? Was that fairly soon afterwards? No, no, not immediately. Well No, 'cause you went to Spain, you had the gap year before that, didn't you? Well there was a gate
before I went to Uni and then after unique, um, because I hadn't got my grant to do this MSC in agroec economics, I hadn't got anything to do. So I spent the summer with my girlfriend at the time and we just did different jobs and travelled and things. Uh and then I went back to live with my nana. She'd broken her leg. Um and uh we got
I love the sound of that nana.
Oh no she's Now you're talking, I can talk about my nanophair. Yeah, she sounds what an
amazing old those really strong women of that generation, you know, that held everything together.
Toty toady.
And she loved the fag.
She loved to come back to her folk smoking. Yeah. There's lots of stories around that. But so I l I was uh lived with her for this period. She'd broken a leg, so I was caring for her. Uh I also got compensation for her from the council because uh she's tripped on a on a broken paving stone. Um and um while I was living with her that period, so it was a sort of September, October after leaving uni in the June. Um I started applying for lots of random jobs. Right. And I applied to be the Palm Tree Economics Researcher for the Social Liberal Democrats. Um paid n nothing. And um Uh I wasn't a member of the party. I see a uni I hadn't been involved in party politics. I involved in the environmental movement. Um I joined a g organization called the Student Ecology Group and I my first bit of political spin was calling it Green Action.
Um And
you ra you were a contemporary of David Miliband's, is that right? But I feel would there was there a sense that He someone like him was a bit more kind of I've got my eye on the prize for the future, you know.
Totally. I mean I went to one Labour Club meeting just to try it out and uh I think David was there and a guy called Stephen Twigg was there.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What early experiences shaped Sir Ed Davey's path to politics?
0:00–8:34
2
How did Sir Ed transition from university to his first political role?
8:34–25:05
3
What were the biggest challenges working in the coalition government?
25:05–36:05
4
How does Sir Ed view the rise of populism and its impact on UK politics?
36:05–46:04
5
What does Sir Ed think about Brexit’s legacy for the future?
46:04–54:35