On Tuesday, Nigel Farage challenged Keir Starmer to a head-to-head debate. More specifically, the Reform leader wants to take on the Prime Minister in a northern working men’s club.
Obviously, that is not going to happen. The PM might have declared in his speech today that ‘the choice at the moment is between the choice of a Labour government… or Nigel Farage and Reform,’ but there is zero chance of him risking all to take on Farage directly in a setting of the Reform leader’s choosing.
There is, however, another man who should play Farage at his own game and challenge him to a debate: Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey.
Davey has been calling out Farage for some time now, trying to compare him to US President Donald Trump and so on, although there has been little response to the jibes. The Lib Dem parliamentary party is also more than 14 times the size of Farage’s – 72 MPs compared to five. Not that you would know it from the current tone of political debate. See the above comments from the prime minister as an example of that.
While Labour tries to appease Reform, it is time for Davey to take a big swing and try to establish his position as the true liberal opponent of Reform’s right-wing insurgency.
Recent polling from YouGov revealed that the public would prefer the Lib Dem leader to be the prime minister, were it a direct fight between him and Farage. Davey won 41 per cent to 27 per cent, five points head of Kemi Badenoch when the public was given the option of her as PM vs Farage, and just three points behind the current incumbent of no. 10. The Liberal Democrats need to build on the momentum gained from a set of excellent local election results earlier this month by taking some bold moves, and preferably not ones involving a wetsuit.
Davey has become known for his stunts and even a sceptic like me must accept that they have done a good job of getting him heard. Now, though, it is time to get serious. Debating with Farage, who is desperately trying to convince the country he can be prime minister despite his party only just being able to field a five-a-side team of parliamentarians, could help him achieve that.
In many ways, throwing down the gauntlet to the Reform leader is a win-win
In many ways, throwing down the gauntlet to the Reform leader is a win-win for Davey. If Farage declines, he looks like a coward – all talk and no trousers. If he accepts, it presents Davey with a real opportunity to assert himself on the national stage and make Badenoch in particular look even more irrelevant. Revealing the Conservative leader as unable to challenge Farage and Reform is important as the Lib Dems look to hoover up the soft Tory vote that both dismays of Badenoch’s (lack of) leadership and is repulsed by Farage.
The move is, though, not totally risk free for Davey, of course. While making the challenge would show some toughness, he would have to be seen to win the debate for it to be a truly worthwhile. Farage is undoubtedly a strong performer in such settings.
Such an exercise would also arguably give Reform and its leader far more credibility and publicity than they deserve and this juncture. Recent polling by YouGov might have Reform leading the pack on 29 per cent, with the Lib Dems down in fourth on 15 per cent, but I remember the heady few days back in 2010 when the polling suggested that the Lib Dems might win the election with Nick Clegg becoming prime minister. That’s not quite what happened…
Furthermore, Reform is getting plenty of attention already, so it is not like a debate would flag them to an unsuspecting public.
Talking of Clegg, he did actually clash with Farage in a head-to-head debate back in 2014. The two men were focussing specifically on Europe and the then Ukip leader was judged by the public to have won pretty comprehensively in snap polling conducted afterwards.
That underlines the risk Davey would be taking if he were to debate Farage. However, a victory, or even a close contest, would establish him the leader of the anti-Farage coalition that clearly exists and might well be growing. It’s a risk worth taking.
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