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It seems there is no act of undignified character that Sir Ed Davey would not undertake in order to bring valuable publicity to the Liberal Democrats.
Amid the clicking of cameras, he falls off a paddleboard in the Lake District, cycles down the hills of Wales, goes down a waterslide in Somerset and dons a chef’s hat at a school in Hertfordshire.
And the long march to Election Day on July 4 promises to feature plenty more “fun photo ops,” as his team calls them.
Trump first revealed his weakness for outlandish media events three years ago when he celebrated his victory in the Chesham and Amersham by-election by using an orange hammer to knock down a pile of blue cardboard boxes, symbolizing the Liberal Democrats’ mission to tear down the “Blue Wall”, a former Conservative stronghold. His team loved the ploy so much that last month he was photographed removing blocks from a giant blue Jenga tower.
For a party that is constantly at risk of being overwhelmed in the battle between the Conservatives and Labour, the eye-catching visual image has already secured valuable coverage in newspapers, on television and, crucially, on social media.
Liberal Democrat strategists argue the tactic has two aims: to introduce their leader to voters and implicitly contrast him with the stiff style of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, and to raise awareness of their pitch to voters.
“Not only has Ed been making some funny appearances, but we’ve also noticed a surge in attention to our policies and our party,” one source said. I.
“We’ve all heard anecdotes, including from friends and family who are not politically inclined, that they are really thinking about this issue.”
The paddleboarding gaffe was aimed at highlighting the Conservatives’ record on water quality and the Liberal Democrats’ plans to turn water companies into “public benefit corporations”, while Sir Edward donned his chef’s hat and announced a promise to provide free school meals to all primary school children.
Footage of the waterslide was broadcast on the BBC and Sky News alongside details of the party’s calls for better mental health provision in schools.
“You need attention,” said one experienced activist. “Making an impact on social media and then having it bounce back into the mainstream news is a very powerful way to get attention.”
Another senior Liberal Democrat leader said: “We clearly have higher expectations than the Greens, but the difference in coverage between Ed’s tour and the two Green leaders’ tours is really striking.”
Ahead of the leader’s visit to constituencies in the party’s battle bus, Yellow Hammer 1, the Liberal Democrat headquarters will ask activists to come up with stunts that would shine a spotlight on the issues they campaign on and get coverage in local media.
Anything seems within reason to be up to Sir Ed and his communications director, Baroness Grender, who cut her political teeth working alongside Paddy Ashdown in the 1992 and 1997 election campaigns.
The late Lord Ashdown led the turnaround of the party’s fortunes during this period by projecting an image of a “man of action” reinforced by hundreds of photographs which saw him roaming the country.
One aide said, “Ed never said no to anything, I can assure you. We once showed him a blue cardboard cannon that shot yellow confetti, and his eyes lit up and he said, ‘Just do it.'”
The party’s “entertainment wing” had plenty of other photo-worthy plans but had been sworn to secrecy for maximum effect, the aide added.
A senior Liberal Democrat leader said: “What Ed is doing is almost like a non-military version of Paddy. In the ’92 and ’97 elections Paddy was notorious for running across fields, jumping gates and that sort of thing. He’s looking at what works and applying it to the current situation.”
Another added: “What Ed has done well is unlock his personal, private charm. He has cleverly found a way to portray himself as a more well-rounded person. There’s an authenticity to it that voters love.”
The party stressed that the prime minister’s tone would change during the election campaign – for example, in his campaign broadcast last week, he spoke about his own experiences and pointed out chronic shortcomings in social welfare – and the LDP election manifesto released yesterday will also be a more serious event.
“No matter how good a comedian you are, you don’t tell jokes all the time every day,” one source said.
Another lesson the leader and his team have learnt from Ashdown’s time in power is to avoid the mistake of ruthlessly targeting a limited number of constituencies and spreading resources too thin. They are concentrating on both disillusioned former Conservative voters and Labour supporters strategically preparing to vote Conservative MPs out of office.
The Liberal Democrats are now targeting commuter constituencies in Surrey, Hertfordshire and Cheshire as well as their previous strongholds in the south west and believe they are well placed to defeat a range of ministers including the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Justice Minister Alex Chalk.
The Liberal Democrats have not publicly said how many seats they hope to win, but opinion polls suggest they can win three times as many seats as the just 11 they won in the last election. Some hope that through strategic voting they can win as many as 45 seats.
Its biggest achievement will be to replace the Scottish National Party as the third largest party in the House of Commons, which will give the Liberal Democrats more funding and presence after a decade of dismal underperformance.
“The biggest problem small parties face at election time is getting people’s attention,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London.
“So almost any stunt that might get their attention is worth trying, especially if it can be carried out in a target constituency, even if it’s a clownish stunt. Remember, clowning has never harmed Boris Johnson’s political ambitions – at least not until he became prime minister.”