'It's game on!' Rishi Sunak warned as by-election battle to begin

Speaking to Gloria De Piero, Sir Ed also opened up about the challenges of raising his disabled son John and his wife’s battle with multiple-sclerosis.

Addressing the upcoming by-elections he said: “We will stand in every single seat. I have noticed in Mid Bedfordshire, that we have a fantastic chance.

“It's very much like the other three by-elections we've won in this Parliament. People said we couldn't win, we did. I think we can win. I genuinely do. In Mid Beds I think it's game on.”

Davey also insisted he’d held no secret meetings with Keir Starmer about a potential coalition, and he underlined his commitment to never working with the Tories while he is leader.

“I’ve fought the Tories all my life,” he said. “My first involvement in politics back in 1987 wasn't with the physical party, it was with tactical voting, trying to get the Tories out outright. During the period of the coalition, I was in charge of energy and climate change policy, which is a passion of mine.

“I like to think we were pretty successful. We quadrupled Britain's renewable power, wind power and so on. I stopped the Tories doing what they wanted to do.

“But we will never do a deal with the Conservatives while I'm leader of the Liberal Democrats.

“I said when I became the leader that my mission was to remove Conservative MP's and remove this Conservative government. It would be bonkers having done that, to put them back. We will not do that.

“People should vote Liberal Democrat. That's the most important message for a Leader. Whether it's our positions on cost of living, on the NHS, on the environment, whatever it may be, is that I want to make people understand what we're about.”

“I want people to vote Liberal Democrat for our policies, and for our great candidates. The more Liberal Democrat MP's people vote for, the more you'll have people championing those policies in the next Parliament.”

Commenting on his relationship with Keir Starmer he said: “I don't often chat to him. I tend to speak to him at national events. I was sitting next to him during the coronation, so obviously I chatted. But no secret meetings, no.”

Talking about the challenges of raising his son John, who suffers from a neurological condition, he said: “He has a condition which is undiagnosed. It's a brain condition, a neurological condition, and it means he can't walk or talk. We provide care for him.

“My day starts around about 6 o'clock when I can hear him calling out for daddy because he said daddy for the first time when he was nine which was a major day for me.

“He says daddy quite a lot, and so I go into him and get him up. He can't get up himself. So my first job is very personal care. I take him for a shower, clean him and then we massage him every morning because of his condition, he can become quite stiff. So we massage him and then we dress him and bring him down.

“My wife and I do that. We try to get carer support. We're fortunate to have a very supportive family who helps with that. Many families don't get that. And you know, one of the things we need to do is to talk about carers far more.”

Describing the difficulties his wife, Emily, faces with multiple sclerosis he continued: “The diagnosis was a long time ago, but it was very gradual and there's something called remitting MS where you can improve a bit but she was really hit by lockdown.

"She couldn't do some of the exercises she used to do like swimming and things. Her mobility declined quite a bit. And so she decided she wanted to go public because it became so obvious, because she walks with the sticks now and very slowly. She wanted to talk about it. And so we did. It creates challenges, but she's a real fighter. She'll be running the marathon if we're not careful.”

Admitting how his family drives him forward in life and politics he said: “I'm thinking about them most of the time during the day.

"I am fortunate because I live in London, so I go back to my house every day and I am very much part of the family in the mornings and I try to get back in the evenings whenever I can and reorganise my diary so I can be as present as I want to be, which is much as possible. But you know being a MP, being leader of the party, you're torn in different directions. Fortunately, because Emily is in politics herself, she gets what I'm trying to do. It's a shared endeavour. And so we work very close together.

Last month Davey was criticised for comments he made in a radio interview about whether women can have a penis.

Standing by the remarks he told GB News: “The position I described in that programme is the one that I think is just factually true, namely that the vast majority of women feel that their gender is the same as their biological sex at birth. But it's just a fact that a few don't, a small number don't. And the law in our country has recognised that for the last 20 years.

"I think the debate should focus on the facts. And we should be a bit more sympathetic and calm and compassionate to people.”