Has Ed Davey's strategy of eye-catching stunts worked? The Lib Dems think so

ITV News' reporter Chloe Keedy reflects on Ed Davey's unconventional campaign tactics.

Sir Ed Davey got the final week of his election campaign off to a flying start on Monday morning, quite literally.

He screamed, "do something you’ve never done before! Vote Liberal Democrat!", as he did something he had never done before - a bungee jump.

He was in Eastbourne, a constituency which has bounced back and forth between Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs for the past 14 years. In 2019 it went blue and, this time, the Lib Dems are hopeful they can take it back.

The stunts are all part of the party’s strategy to win votes. But, with just a couple of days to go, how well is it working?

We’ve been travelling with the Lib Dems for five weeks now, and we have followed, and filmed, most of Sir Ed’s stunts.

Whenever I post about them online, there is a mixed reaction. Some people say they think it’s great that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, while others say they wish he would take himself more seriously, and focus on messages around policy.

He will tell you that whenever he does a silly stunt, it helps to highlight a serious message, whether it's about the sewage crisis, the GP shortage or children’s mental health.

It does feel somewhat incongruous, though, that Sir Ed has chosen to do his bungee jump on the day the party is pushing out a policy about support for bereaved families.

He’s pledging to spend £440 million a year on bereavement payments for widows and children, doubling the funding for bereavement support payments by 2028-29.

But it’s the pictures of him bungee jumping and throwing himself, hips first, into a Zumba class in Wokingham which are, perhaps inevitably, what people are concentrating on.

It’s all part of the 'air war', according to one senior Lib Dem source.

The party has always been effective in the 'ground war', he claims (nationally, Lib Dem activists have knocked on more than two million doors during the course of this campaign), but another big part of the party’s strategy this time has been, quite simply, getting its leader noticed.

On that front, they believe they have succeeded.

Beyond that, Sir Ed’s team say they have two key jobs. Firstly, persuading voters that they like what the party stands for and, secondly, that they are a party that can win where those voters live.

They tell me they’re seeing two different groups swinging towards the Liberal Democrats - the first are those who have voted Conservative in the past, but now feel alienated by the party.

The second are those who have moved out of London, where they might previously have voted for another party, but now live in a seat (e.g. in Hampshire or Surrey) where it’s a straight fight between the Tories and the Lib Dems.

The mood amongst campaign staff on board the Lib Dem battle bus, Yellow Hammer 1, is increasingly positive.

Even Sir Ed has seemed noticeably buoyant (no pun intended) over the past few days. His team points to polls which show his personal approval rating is up.

So, what would a good election night look like for the Liberal Democrats? It hopes to reclaim its position as Britain’s third biggest political party, but senior party strategists are reluctant to name a number of seats.

They tell me they are aiming to beat the party’s record set in 1997 when they gained 26 new seats.

This year, that would give them 34 MPs, but at least one poll predicts they could win double that number.

All they will tell you is that they are feeling more confident than they were when this campaign began. By the end of this week, we’ll know if they are right to be.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every day in the run-up to the election Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…