Ed Davey determined to finish the job of expelling the Tories from their heartlands

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From the Guardian this afternoon:

The Liberal Democrats plan to “finish the job” of eliminating the Conservatives from their traditional heartlands at the next election, Ed Davey has promised, saying a further move to the right by a new Tory leader would make this even more likely.

In his first interview since the Lib Dems won 72 MPs in the general election, beyond party strategists’ highest predictions, Davey said this expanded Commons contingent – nearly seven times more than their 2019 total – had given them a bigger platform for their message.

Confirming that he intends to lead the party into the next election, Davey said the party would again ruthlessly target so-called blue wall seats, traditionally Conservative areas where the Lib Dems have taken advantage of perceived Tory complacency and disaffection with the party’s ideological direction.

“We need to finish the job at the next election,” he said. “We took down a lot of the blue wall, more than I expected. But there is still some left to take down.”

And, the Guardian points out, with the the Conservatives now holding fewer than 50  seats more than the Lib Dems, this is in effect a push to replace the Tories as the second party in the Commons.

It's early days, and denial is said to be the first stage of grief, but a remarkable percentage of the comment I've heard from leading Tories since the election is predicated on the idea that the last government did nothing wrong and that, within months, the voters will return to them, begging for forgiveness.

That goes some way to supporting Davey's contention that “the Conservatives are making a compelling case to be consigned to history”.