Norman Baker has defended Ed Davey’s approach to the General Election campaign
Veteran Liberal Democrat Norman Baker has defended Ed Davey’s approach to the General Election campaign - and tipped them to win up to 50 seats.Mr Baker, a former Lib Dem MP and Transport Minister, said the party had to find a way to cut through and Davey's tactics were working.
Speaking to Camilla Tominey about the leader's nationwide tour which has seen him throwing himself down slides and plunging into water he told GB News: “The reality is that over the last few years, it's been very difficult for the Lib Dems to get coverage from the media, because the media is obsessed with Labour versus Tory.
“When he was standing on that board, in the middle of Windermere, he was able to then talk about pensions, talk about the NHS, talk about sewage.
“You do get an opportunity to get on TV, which we need to do to cut through and we can't cut through to voters with our issues if we're not being covered.”
Pressed on how many seats he expects the Lib Dems to win he said: “My own assessment of how many seats we can win is upwards of 50. The reality is that people have stopped listening to the Conservatives.
”Some reports have claimed the support for Lib Dems might have been behind Michael Gove’s decision not to stand.Asked if thought Gove was worried about losing to the Lib Dems, Mr Baker said:
“I think it is a good possibility. If you look across Surrey, look across Hampshire, Sussex tat swathes of the home counties, the Tories are in big trouble.
”Quizzed on whether he'd encourage the Lib Dems to enter into a coalition Government, like the one he was a part of, Mr Baker wouldn’t be drawn.But he did point out the success the last coalition Government had.
He said: “If you look back at the last 14 years, the coalition government was the most stable government of any government in that period. And we've had a succession of disasters and Tory Prime Ministers. So a coalition government is actually quite a good way of government. But I think hypothetically, I think it's unlikely to be a coalition and we did get our fingers burned last time. We’d need to see what happened with the results.”
