Monday, September 21, 2026
Farage's plan for a Trump satellite state?
He told the conference that the Liberal Democrat’s “orange wall” will stop Reform UK’s rise to power and “setting communities against each other”:
Sir Ed warned an “unholy alliance” between Mr Farage and Kemi Badenoch is “the only way either can get into power”.
“Together, they want to turn Britain into a Trump satellite state which would trash our NHS, turn our communities against each other, cause untold damage to our environment, and trample over traditional British values of fairness, tolerance and decency,” he said.
Sir Ed said the two parties can “only offer anger, division, and another con to line their own pockets”, and vowed his party “will not let them pass” on the road to No 10.
"A bigger orange wall is the only thing that can stand between Britain and this dangerous experiment, and we will not let them pass,” he said.
Ed Davey said an ‘unholy alliance’ is the only thing that could take either the Tories or Reform to power
“Liberal Democrats are the only party with a plan to take the brakes off the British economy, get money back into people’s pockets, and defend the traditional values that make our country great.
“Britain feels broken because it’s being held back. This conference, we’ll be setting out our vision to fix our broken politics and change our country for the better.”
Lib Dems from across the country will be gathering in Brighton for the party’s annual conference this weekend.
New YouGov polling has found that support for Sir Ed’s party has remained largely consistent over the last year, but found Britons tend to see the Lib Dems as moderate and tolerant, but also weak and unclear what they stand for.
Sir Ed’s personal ratings have also remained consistent, but when asked to describe him in their own words, 42 per cent of Britons answered ““don’t know” or “who?”.
Closing out the first day of the conference on Saturday, Sir Ed will address a party rally, telling members the Lib Dems “believe in the intrinsic worth of every single human being”.
“When we see injustice, when we see human dignity under attack, we do not look away. We stand up. We care. And we fight…
“[Reform are] not even trying to win most people’s support. What they’re banking on – what Farage is counting on to get him into Number 10 – is that we don’t care enough to see this fight through. That we’ll get tired. Depressed.
“That the anger and the hatred and the lies will grind us down until eventually we just give up.”
This is all good knockabout stuff of course, but only credible if the party's poll ratings improve. However, Davey's words contain an essential truth, that Farage's route to No.10 lies through the cooperation of a Tory Party, which itself is adopting increasingly right wing positions.
For the sake of our democracy such an unholy alliance needs to be stopped at the ballot box.
