Shadow Cabinet Minister Ed Davey to speak at Ashford Lib Dems Annual Dinner

1.14.42pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 2nd Oct 2006

Ed Davey MP

Shadow Cabinet Minister Ed Davey is to be the guest speaker at the 2006 Ashford Liberal Democrat dinner.

"It is tremendous that a shadow minister of Ed Davey's calibre will be speaking at this years dinner" commented Ashford's parliamentary candidate Chris Took.

"I know Ed is a fantastic speaker, I am sure that we will give him a very warm welcome."

Some tickets are still available for the Ashford Liberal Democrat dinner on Friday October 20th. Tickets are available from Jill Norris by calling 01233 631349.

Ed Davey Parliamentary career

Edward Davey was elected to the House of Commons at his first attempt at the 1997 General Election where he defeated the sitting Conservative MP for the former constituency of Surbiton Richard Tracey with a majority of just 56 votes and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on June 6, 1997, in which he gave his support for the setting up of the London Assembly, but against the idea of a directly elected Mayor of London, he also talked about the effects governmental cuts was having on the education delivery in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

In parliament he was given a job immediately by Paddy Ashdown and became the party's spokesman on Treasury Affairs, adding the post of Whip in 1998, and a third job to hold as the spokesman on London from 2000. He entered the Charles Kennedy Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet following the 2001 General Election (at which he increased his majority to 15,676 over a former Conservative MP David Shaw), and became the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury until 2002 when he became the Liberal Democrat Shadow at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He was appointed Liberal Democrat Shadow Education and Skills Secretary in 2005 before becoming Liberal Democrats Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary in March 2006.

Edward Davey was responsible for introducing the Liberal Democrat policy of penny on income tax to pay for education in 1997. Davey was one of the contributors to the Orange Book (2004).

In 1995, before his election as an MP, he won a Royal Humane Society bravery award and commendation from the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police for rescuing a woman who had fallen onto the train line in the face of on oncoming train at Clapham Junction station.

He speaks French, Spanish and German.