‘Tories are not listening’: Ed Davey sure Lib Dems can woo more disgruntled voters

Party leader hopes local elections in many traditionally Conservative areas will help it build on recent success

Days before the local elections, with Kemi Badenoch demanding apologies over gender identity and Nigel Farage complaining about mental illness diagnoses, Ed Davey was quietly getting on with what he perhaps does best: having fun.

In a converted shed near Stratford-upon-Avon, the Liberal Democrat leader was joking with photographers as he made chocolate truffles alongside Manuela Perteghella, his party's MP for the formerly true-blue constituency.