AFTER appearing on the panel of BBC’s ‘Question Time’ in Tottenham the previous evening Sir Ed Davey, one of two Liberal Democrats seeking election to the party’s leadership, paid a visit to Bude last Saturday, June 21, writes Christine Williams.

In Rosie’s Café at Crooklets Beach he met local party workers including Robert Uhlig who is standing in a town council by-election, and he enjoyed a snack lunch and a chat before venturing on to the beach.

He recalled the last time he had visited Bude was when, aged six, he came on holiday with his family and two Labrador dogs and had enjoyed exploring the rock pools.

His two main policies are focussing on the environment and climate change and stopping Brexit. He was impressed to hear about the multitude of organisations in Bude keeping the town and beaches green and clean and went beach cleaning for a couple of minutes.

He moved on to the ReFill Shop where he was joined by Danny Chambers, Liberal Democrat candidate for North Cornwall, and met Jackie Diffey and Deborah Rosser.

It happened to be his wife’s birthday two days later so he bought several items for her including a bamboo toothbrush, lemongrass soap and a bee bomb, a ball of earth and seeds that can encourage bee-friendly wild flowers to grow.

Finally it was time for him to travel to Plymouth in order to meet up with the other Lib Dem leadership candidate, Jo Swinson, and take part in the hustings at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel.

• Also standing in the town council by-election; Lorraine Corrigan-Turner (Independent), Steven Haynes (Labour) and Philippa Purchase (Green Party).