WATCH: Lib Dem leader Ed Davey demolishes “blue wall” with small orange hammer

Ed Davey demolishing the blue wall after the Lib Dem victory in Chesham and Amersham

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has demolished a ‘blue wall’ with a small orange hammer to mark his party’s victory against the Tories in Chesham and Amersham.

In the video, Davey asked: “Do you know what happens when a really powerful, strong orange force goes against a blue wall?”

He then warned his team to “stand back” stirring a wave of laughter – and proceeded to break the wall.

Reactions

As usual, Twitter users were merciless…

Jonathan Fisher said: “Use it on my head immediately please.”

And Jason Starman added: “Please please please Edward Davey and Lib Dems, stop this.

“BoJo did it better with a forklift truck, and that was the worst to watch… until now.”

“Potentially one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen,” one Twitter user announced.

Sophie Kitching was kinder: “He looks so pleased with himself and I love it.”

Scott Beasley called for a “total and complete shutdown” of photo opportunities in politics.

He said we need to “figure out what the hell is going on”.

But Benjamin Davies’ verdict read the stunt is “still better” than seasons seven and eight of Game of Thrones.

One person lamented the moment: “he had to go and ruin it”, whilst another declared: “I hate politics”.

One of the tweets read: “I will refrain from making a joke about the size of Ed Davey’s hammer.”

Politics should be carried out through „wall-based visual metaphors” from now on, another user concluded.

Chesham and Amersham election results

The Lib Dem victory in yesterday’s by-election comes after the party gathered a stunning 56.7 per cent of the votes.

This accounts for a majority of 8,028 over the Tories, who had been in power in Chesham and Amersham since 1974.

Sir Davey said the result sent a “shockwave through British politics” by showing that the “Blue Wall” of Tory southern seats could be vulnerable.

He said: “If the Lib Dems can beat the Tories here, we can beat them anywhere”.

Sarah Green, the new Lib Dem MP, said: “This Conservative Party has taken people across the country for granted for far too long.”

She added: “The voice of Chesham and Amersham is unmistakable. Together we have said, ‘Enough is enough, we will be heard and this Government will listen’.

“This campaign has shown that no matter where you live, or how supposedly safe a constituency may appear to be, if you want a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, you can have a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament.”

Defeated candidate Peter Fleet admitted the Tories had to rebuild “trust and understanding” with voters.

The by-election comes after former cabinet minister Dame Cheryl Gillan passed away.

Dame Gillan won in the 2019 general election with 16,233 – around 55 per cent of the vote.

From Cummings to Campbell, politics reacts to Chesham and Amersham

Andra Maciuca

Andra is a multilingual, award-winning NQJ senior journalist and the UK’s first Romanian representing co-nationals in Britain and reporting on EU citizens for national news. She is interested in UK, EU and Eastern European affairs, EU citizens in the UK, British citizens in the EU, environmental reporting, ethical consumerism and corporate social responsibility. She has contributed articles to VICE, Ethical Consumer and The New European and likes writing poetry, singing, songwriting and playing instruments. She studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield and has a Masters in International Business and Management from the University of Manchester. Follow her on: