The Lib Dems do not do subtlety, writes LBC reporter Henry Riley
29 March 2023, 13:34 | Updated: 29 March 2023, 13:42
The historic market town of Berkhamsted has been witness to several major historic events. In December 1066 the Anglo-Saxons surrendered the English crown to the Normans.
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In 1389 Geoffrey Chaucer was appointed Clerk of Works at Berkhamsted Castle. In 2023, Sir Ed Davey knocked over some blue-painted bales of hay with a tractor.
The Liberal Democrats do not do subtlety.
Previous stunts have included Sir Ed “bursting Boris’ bubble” and “smashing the blue wall” with an orange mallet. Today didn’t disappoint.
The local election starting gun was fired by the party in leafy Hertfordshire. The former Cabinet Minister, equipped with a Barbour jacket and wellington boots, found himself in a tractor with a sympathetic farmer who was explaining how the stunt would work.
“Hello everyone” hailed Sir Ed at the 14-or-so members of the media and Liberal Democrat press who were in attendance on the farm.
After the stunt had finished, and the audience’s attention switched to a 9 week old Jack Russell- the congregation made it to Berkhamsted high street to greet local party members.
The party’s Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper was doing her best impression of a headteacher and educating activists how loudly they should cheer.
After a photoshoot with a farming magazine, Sir Ed then arrived (on a SECOND tractor) on the high street and was greeted to well-rehearsed cheers from the 50 or so activists who had braved the drizzle.
Sandwiched between a Wetherspoons pub (owned by the prominent Brexiteer, Tim Martin) and a JCB digger (owned by Boris-ally, Brexit-supporting Tory donor, Lord Bamford), Sir Ed said that the conservatives were “out of touch” and that many of their supporters have “had enough”.
The Liberal Democrats are hoping to make significant gains in May’s local elections.
If they are successful, who knows what stunt the party have up their sleeves.
