Last week saw one of north west England’s Members of the European Parliament give his take on next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen and his own ambitious bid for the Lisbon Treaty’s newly-created “President of Europe” role.

Chris Davies MEP, formerly leader of the Liberal Democrat contingent in the European Parliament, is now the party’s Environment and Public Health spokesman. His interest in events leading up to next month’s Copenhagen summit is therefore unsurprising. Having explained the inner workings of international summits, which can seem very mysterious to the layman, Davies described such conferences as a “jamboree”, with hundreds of companies and non-governmental organisations being present. Whilst he accepted that these helped the conferences attract the public’s interest, he was keen to emphasise that it was the presence of the international leaders that really mattered.

Asked by a member of the audience whether he thought an agreement would be reached, Davies said it was “uncertain”. He also responded to comments by the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, who recently confessed that a deal “may not happen in Copenhagen”. Davies described this dumbing down of expectations as a tactic so the conference wouldn’t be seen as a failure, particularly if it doesn’t achieve the outcomes the public wants it to. He highlighted the fact that, despite the wide-impacting decisions that will need to be made, a commitment to fighting climate change was nothing compared to fighting the recent banking crisis. Therefore the main question according to Davies was whether any deal that is reached can be substantial enough.

Questioned about his bid to become the first President of the European Council, a role created as part of the Lisbon Treaty’s ratification, Davies took the chance to reflect upon his thirty years of political experience. As Member of Parliament for the north Manchester constituency of Littleborough and Saddleworth, from 1995 to 1997, Davies said he “achieved nothing”. He also described the House of Commons as “depressing”and preferred the feeling of being enfranchised that exists in the European Parliament.

In a very tongue-in-cheek manner, Davies pitches himself in his YouTube campaign video by saying “I’m male, I’m middle-class, I’m white, I’m in my 50s, I have an Oxbridge education… so I reckon my credentials are as good as any of the other candidates’.” When interviewed after the event by Fuse FM, Davies took the opportunity to sell the real credentials that he claimed made him suitable for the role of European Council President. Citing his experience as Chairman of Liverpool City Council’s Housing Committee in the 1980s, Davies went on to say that unlike arguably the most profile candidate for the job, a certain Tony Blair, he had not lied to either of the Parliaments which he had worked for. When questioned on whether he was standing on a purely anti-Blair platform, Davies went on to set out an ambitious and wide-ranging agenda, placing a particular emphasis on green issues.

Since his first political job cleaning out the toilets in the headquarters of what was then the Liberal Party, it is undeniable that Chris Davies has built up an extensive political CV. However, bearing in mind his competition, one must question whether it was a strong enough CV. Davies was facing competition from not only Blair, but the Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy, the current Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean Claude-Juncker, and also Latvia’s “Iron Lady”, Vaira Veike-Freiberga, who apart from Davies is the only other person to have openly declared her candidacy. Davies wrote to all the heads of the EU’s twenty-seven member states, and recently received a reply from the Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen, saying that his application “will be brought to the attention of the Taoiseach as soon as possible”. Davies confessed that were he not to get the job, he would like to see it offered to Mary Robinson, the first female President of Ireland, who served from 1990 to 1997.

In the end, the quiet Belgian Herman van Rompuy was chosen for the top job, mainly because of his ability to bring differing parties to the negotiating table and build a consensus. Chris Davies may have to continue serving as an MEP rather than as President of the European Council-but based on his decade-long commitment to the people of north west England, this may not be such a bad thing.

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