Ed Davey rejects claims party is ‘sleepwalking into irrelevance’ under his leadership – UK politics live

Lib Dem leader says he is proud of party’s record at Brighton conference

Ed Davey has said the split on the right in UK politics gives the Liberal Democrats a “historic opportunity” to overtake the Conservatives.

In his interview on the Today programme this morning, Davey said:

I’m excited by the prospect of more Liberal Democrat MPs and building on the success we’ve had in recent years.

I think there’s a moral responsibility to stop the far right. I really take that very seriously. It wears heavily on my shoulders. We have to win to stop Mr Farage and stop Kemi Badenoch giving him the keys [to Downing Street].

And that’s why I think there’s a real chance we could end up with more MPs than the Conservatives after next election.

Take a stand, please. And the cosying up to him that was done by Keir Starmer absolutely failed miserably.

You have to stand up to them. And this is a man who’s ruining our world. He’s ruining his own country, but he’s hitting people in our country.

His disastrous war in Iran is leading to the hike in oil and gas prices, which means people are paying more for petrol and diesel.

Downing Street insiders expect Burnham to be a bit more forceful [than Keir Starmer was] when he feels there’s a need to stand up for British interests. But there is no suggestion he will follow the more combative approach of Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister.

Instead, one source said he would probably take a “third way” between Starmer and Carney, pushing back more than his predecessor publicly and privately, but avoiding open diplomatic warfare. A second source said the prime minister had three ambitions for Tuesday’s talks: bond with Trump, make the case for Ukraine, and avoid any drama.