Ed Davey - Political Icon Series Prints - A3, A2, A1 & A0 Sizes

Sir Ed Davey is one of the strangest political success stories of recent Britain: a serious, long-serving liberal politician who somehow revived his party by falling into lakes, bouncing off campaign props and looking cheerfully prepared to risk minor injury for marginal-seat strategy.

There is a genuinely moving story behind the public pratfalls. Davey lost his father when he was four; as a child he helped care for his mother during her cancer illness; and he and his wife now care for their severely disabled son. That personal history has made care one of the central themes of his politics, giving him an emotional authenticity that is rare in Westminster, where “lived experience” often means once missing a train to a think-tank breakfast.

He is also vastly more experienced than his rubber-ring election image suggests. First elected MP for Kingston and Surbiton in 1997, he served in senior Liberal Democrat roles, entered government during the Coalition, and was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015. Under his leadership, the Liberal Democrats achieved a major comeback at the 2024 general election, winning 72 MPs and becoming the third-biggest party in the Commons.

To supporters, Davey is decent, resilient and underestimated: a mainstream liberal with a strong local-government machine, a personal commitment to carers, and a surprisingly effective instinct for making voters notice a party they had half-filed away with old Cleggmania fridge magnets.

To critics, however, he is not so much a statesman as a human inflatable tube man outside a garden centre. The stunts may have worked, but opponents say they made politics look like a bank holiday activity brochure: paddleboarding for sewage, rollercoasters for social care, and enough forced jollity to make even a Lib Dem activist whisper, “Steady on, Ed.”

Then there is the Post Office Horizon scandal. Davey was postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 and has apologised for not seeing through Post Office lies sooner, saying he was misled. Critics argue that “I was misled” is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting for a ministerial CV. Supporters say the real villains were Post Office executives and Fujitsu, not a minister handling a huge brief. Opponents reply that accountability is not a commemorative mug you only take out when convenient.

For fans, Davey is a kind, capable liberal survivor. For detractors, he is Mr Sensible in a wetsuit — and occasionally the Coalition’s past with a knighthood and a very nervous press officer.

Limited Edition of 250 A3 prints. A2, A1 & A0 sizes just 20 of each.

Shipped in cardboard backed envelope - A3 Size. Larger sizes in rigid tubes.