Ed Davey’s attack on Nigel Farage wasn’t leadership, it was a desperate bid for relevance, says Alex Armstrong

Davey, who was prancing around Bournemouth like a man who's just discovered gravity after one too many bungee jumps, delivered a speech that's less a vision for Britain and more a deranged therapy session aimed at one man: Nigel Farage.

And speaking of obsession, let's tally Ed’s Farage-derangement-syndrome, shall we?

Yes, he mentioned Nigel Farage a whopping 32 times, painting him as the architect of every ill from Brexit to school shootings. It's pathological, Ed. And "Reform"? He name-dropped that party five times, always as a bogeyman "threat" to democracy, to our values, and apparently the NHS.

And err, what about the Keir Starmer, you know the man who’s running the country? Not a single mention by name. Not one! Davey referenced "the prime minister" once, in passing, when boasting about raising carers' issues with him. Never by name, in fact he mentioned Trump more times than “Labour".

The bias is overt isn't it? So easily exposed for everyone see. You love Keir don’t you Ed, he’s your political idol— a man you can’t wait to offer a coalition agreement with at the next election. That’s what your thinly guised bias is all about isn’t it. I’ll happily take a bet on it right now.

In interviews over the last few days, Davey spewed the dangerous rhetoric that’s plagued American politics for over a decade now and led to exceptional political violence and assassinations, yes he called Nigel Farage a "threat to our democracy”.

Ed Davey, still cannot seem to fathom the personal danger his words pose to politicians in our country. This language is divisive and is dangerous.

Davey also repeated the unsubstantiated claim that we could return the hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants back to the EU had we not left the super-bureaucracy. On paper we could, but why on earth did that not happen in 2018, when the crisis started then Ed, when we were still in the EU?

How many did we used to return to the EU? Is it that the inconvenient truth is that they wouldn’t take them back? Is it because it’s a complete manufactured statement you’re spewing to the public, in a desperate attempt to undermine the biggest exercise of democracy in our country. Not very Democrat of you, is it Ed?

Ed Davey's speech wasn't leadership; it was a desperate bid for relevance from a party that's become the establishment's useful idiot. The same desperation we can all see while you make yourself look like a total fool as you backflip around the country. What we saw today wasn’t leadership, it was a one-man hate campaign against a rival who's actually connecting with voters the Lib Dem’s lost a long time ago. Some would say it's jealousy.

So if we’re asking who is really a danger to British people, I’d hypothetically say it’s probably an incompetent politician that oversaw a huge scandal that led to innocent people taking their own lives, many banged up in prison. A politician who blamed everyone but themselves for the Post Office scandal.

But I couldn’t possibly point to who that politician is.