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Andrew Neil brutally mocked Sir Ed Davey as an “embarrassing irrelevance” after his Lib Dem conference rally speech. The Liberal Democrat leader addressed activists over the weekend at the gathering in Brighton.

In the speech, he hit out at Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party before ending with a chant of “we care, we fight”. But the rallying cry was widely mocked on social media.

Veteran broadcaster Mr Neil wrote on X: “An embarrassing irrelevance. He can’t even fire up his own conference.”

It comes as Sir Ed, who is known for his stunts during election campaigns, came under fire from a Lib Dem council leader.

Julian Brazil, leader of Devon County Council, suggested the party could be “sleepwalking into irrelevance”.

Mr Brazil also said the party was “not saying the things that people can relate to”.

Sir Ed told BBC Breakfast: “We’ve grown really fast in recent years under my leadership. Record number of MPs. We’re running more councils than the Conservatives – councils up and down the country.

“Really proud of that record and it means when you have a bigger party, you can’t please everyone all the time.”

He said his party has a “historic opportunity” to win many more seats because of the “right-wing split between the Conservatives and Reform who are fighting each other”.

“But, also, we have a moral responsibility to win more seats. I think it’s vital we stop Nigel Farage getting into No 10 and Kemi Badenoch giving him the keys to get into No 10.”