Sir Ed Davey
Appearances
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
You know, I quite like having a bit of fun. I think, and you show that, then I think you've got a chance of grabbing people's attention. And I think it's a real failure of progressives that they haven't learned that from the likes of Johnson and Trump and others. frankly.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, I think it's pretty obvious, aren't they? There's loads in the Conservative Party, there's reform, people in parts of the right-leaning media. And I think it's quite shocking. I think they haven't learned the lessons of history. They haven't looked at the facts in front of them.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
And I think particularly with Farage and reform, the sort of bootlicking of Trump and the back slapping of Musk, I mean, it makes a six in my core. I think it's probably turning some of their own voters off. It's quite shocking. You know, I always thought he was a bit of a plastic patriot, to be honest.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
And the moment he seems to be doing Trump's bidding more than and doing what's in Trump's interest more than what's in the UK's interest. So he's hardly a patriot, is he?
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
No, I think it's slightly different, to be fair to them. I mean, if you're in the UK Prime Minister, you've got to try to reach out to the President of the United States, whoever they are. And America has been our longstanding ally, right? However, here's the difference, I think. Sometimes the best way to talk to a friend is to be very... clear and candid.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
And if you look at Trump and his history, if he smells weakness or desperation, he'll just walk all over you. And I think, although he won't like it, I think being clear and strong, showing you have alternatives, like working with our European colleagues, working with our Commonwealth colleagues in Canada and India and so on, I think that shows that we're not so reliant on him as he thinks we are.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, here's a few things. J.D. Vance, not someone I would normally reference, but the vice president, he did call Trump Hitler in the past, or the nearest thing America had to Hitler. And he's now his vice president. So Trump's quite easy to get over this thing, and he will get over it. And if you make it clear that you'd like to be his friend, but if he plays the fool and is a bit of an idiot...
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
and sells America short and sells America's allies short, you're not going to play with him today. I thought Macron didn't do too bad at the Oval Office of the day. So I think it's possible to do it.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
I mean, all Macron was doing was pouring praise in sycophancy and then very carefully saying what he wants to say in... Trump's hearing when they were both on camera. I thought it was quite a masterclass, actually.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
You're right. We have been arguing for higher defense spending and that bit of the statement we support. But we have put forward other ways of funding it. We had said you could increase something called the digital services tax, which is a current tax of 2%. We reckon put it to 10%. It hits 20 multinational companies, extremely profitable wealth companies. Quite a lot of them are U.S.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
tech companies. I'm sure they're willing to pay for the defense, and obviously they're very rich, so I hope they don't mind supporting the poorest in our world too. So here's an alternative. I've got two others that he could have looked at and he didn't talk about today. All those Russian assets that are in our banks. We've seized them, but let's confiscate them.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Let's actually turn them into cash. That's over £22 billion of Russian assets in the UK alone. And there's been talk of working with European colleagues for a European rearmament bank. Like we had after the... The Iron Curtain was raided. So there are other ways of doing it, quite serious, well-considered ways. And that would mean you wouldn't have to take the overseas aid money away.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
And let's face it, I think it's quite a short-term approach doing that because who's going to fill the gap when that money goes? It's going to be Russia and China. You know, the US has already pulled out in a massive way. If we pull out as well, we'll maybe take other Western allies with us and the gap will be filled by our enemies. Long term, it's really bad defence strategy.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, I mean, as I've just explained, we found ways which wouldn't hit ordinary people. But let me give you other ways as well. I mean, you know, I think this government's generally been quite timid in its relationship with Europe.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Two issues we've been campaigning on in this parliament have been the idea of getting rid of all those trade barriers that the Tories put up that have made trading almost impossible and impossible for some small and medium-sized firms in the U.K., And that means we're growing less strongly. There's less money going to the exchequer as a result.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
So let's have another customs union like we used to with the EU. Let's have a youth mobility scheme. I mean, you know, the EU put it on the table. We say, yes, let's do that too. These things would grow the economy. And it's the growth that actually is the fundamental problem for our exchequer.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
First of all, the reason I really strongly support increasing our defense, working with our European colleagues and others, is because that's the best way to avoid war. If Putin thinks that you're strong, he won't come and attack you. And I know that sounds odd to some people, but actually it's been proven over many, many years, many, many countries, if you're strong, they won't come in for you.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
So it's the way to avoid war, first of all. I think the second thing is, because different wars respond, you should respond a different way. So, you know, Harold Wilson back in the 60s, the right not to join the Americans in the Vietnam War, absolutely right. Liberal Democrats voted against the Iraq War. It was a bad war. There was no justification for it.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
And it actually turned out very badly, completely disrupted the whole of that region of our world and led to more wars and more killings and more terrorism. So individual decisions, you have to take judgments on the basis of that. So we were really clear we should be supporting Ukraine. And I'm really clear we need to build up our defense because Russia is a threat.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
I don't think that's disputable, whether you're from the progressive left, liberal center or wherever you are in perspective, frankly.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
I am worried. I've been worried on the Ukraine front for some time. I've been worried about what's happening in Gaza and the West Bank. I'm worried about what's happening in Yemen and Sudan. I mean, there's wars in many parts of our world, which are horrific, and millions of people are losing their homes. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands have been killed. So it is shocking.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
You're right to worry about that. But the question is how do you respond to that?
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, in any one circumstance, if that's the way to promote peace, I'm for it. But I don't think Russia, and certainly Vladimir Putin, is going to take much notice of neutrality, frankly. And if you look at the human rights abuses, I mean, they killed innocent citizens in their attacks. They keep doing it. They're abducting children, taking Ukraine to Russia.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
They're behaving in the most appalling ways. War crime after war crime. I don't think neutrality is the right response to that. I think being tough-nosed and hard because this man is a war criminal. He'll go down in history equivalent to Hitler and Stalin and all the rest of those dictators that brought so much misery. And the only way you deal with them is to be strong.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, I respect their views, OK, and I understand that. But I'm afraid I don't think faced with people like Putin and people like Hitler, that's sufficient.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
I'd say, hello, Mr. President. How are you? Good to see you. I'd compliment him in some way. And then I'd sort of try to find a way to win him over gradually. I'd be looking at the tapes of what Macron did. I'd be talking to President Macron. I did think he played it pretty well. You know, I think that's quite stylish from the French president. And that's what he's going to try to do.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
That's the way. You're on something because I actually said in the speech, even before he was inaugurated, that we should offer him a state visit.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
A banquet at Buckingham Palace, because I think you're right. I think he loves all that stuff. He loves the king, and yeah, you're right. But I said you had to get something out of it. This guy's transactional, right? He just does deals.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
And so the deal would be you can have a state visit and supper at the palace, but you've got to do X, Y, and Z. I just have this vision of the Trump baby blimp being brought back.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, you can ask me, Martin, how much do gold toilets cost these days? You know, the king wants to know.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
You're very welcome.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Hi, Coco. Nice to be here.
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
Well, to be honest, most of my time in politics, I've been doing serious stuff from the economy to health to environment, whatever. And I take my job very seriously, actually. However, the key thing is I think you've got to make people laugh and smile and cry and get emotional about politics as well. And I think the problem is too many people on the left, on progressive politics, liberal left,
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Dear Donald: Can Starmer Tame Trump? w/ Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey
almost take themselves too seriously and I think that turns people off and I think why I wouldn't ever want to ape their policies and values if you look at what some people on the right are doing they're engaging with people in in funny ways that actually seem to be working so I I think if you don't try out different things and also be true to yourself, right?