Review of “Why I Care – And Why Care Matters” by Ed Davey

The Rt Hon Sir Ed Davey MP is leader of the Liberal Democrats. As an active party member, I was always going to buy this book and I pre-ordered it on Amazon before publication. However, reading it in a reasonable timescale was not guaranteed. I drown in unread books!

However, in August I realised that I did not want to meet Ed Davey at the next party conference and then find myself apologising for why I hadn’t read the book yet. I often have to do that with other authors I know! Accordingly, I took it with me to read on a visit family to in Switzerland.

Although I was reading it out of a sense of duty, after just a few pages I found it immensely moving. Indeed, by page 17 I was crying.

Ed Davey

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My first encounter with Ed Davey was online during the pandemic in 2020. I helped the Liberal Democrat Muslim Forum organise separate hustings events during the party’s leadership campaign for both . See the Leila Moran video and the Ed Davey video.

My first meeting with him in real life was when my wife and I had a private lunch with him at the National Liberal Club in London. I had made the winning bid for this lunch in a Liberal Democrat fundraising auction! Since then, I have met him quite often at Liberal Democrat events, both large and small.

Since he became the party leader, Sir Ed has become increasingly vocal about the way our society fails to support carers. During the 2024 general election campaign he made a very personal video about his caring responsibilities for his severely disabled son which you can watch below.

Overview of the book

The book is just over 300 pages long. The first part is about Ed’s personal story. The second part is about four other carers, and the third part is about the implications for society.

Part 1: My Story

As most people are now aware, Ed’s father died of cancer at the age of 38 when Ed was just over four years old. On page 17 I found the following particularly moving:

“My dad wrote little letters to all three of us a few weeks before he died. Mine was the shortest.

Dated 15 January 1970, it ended ‘Be clever and good and happy, and a credit to Daddy always. Lots of kisses and more, mummy will give them to you from me.’

Mum was amazingly true to his wish, that he wanted us to mourn him not by being mournful, but by being as happy as we could be. It must have been very difficult to write those letters; I can’t imagine having to do that for my children.”

When Ed was 9, and his elder brothers were aged 12 and 14, their mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The cared for her with help from their grandparents. She died when Ed was 15.

Ed’s son John has been severely disabled from birth and in the book he recounts in loving detail how much effort he has put into John’s care.

Part 2: Your Stories

In this section, Ed recounts the stories of four other carers.

1. Helen, a young woman, one of Ed’s constituents, who has been caring for her her autistic brother who is non-verbal since she was five years old.
2. Penelope, who cares for her son David who has schizophrenia.
3. Norman, who cares for his wife Rozi who has dementia.
4. Hannah aged 20 who had to care for her mother from childhood and the negative impacts upon her from having to do so. This culminated in Hannah having to break all contact with her mother.

Part 3: Our Stories

This section highlights some of the work being done by voluntary groups in Ed’s constituency and the work of some national charities that support carers. As a result of reading the book, I decided to become a small donor to two of these charities.

Why the book matters

Fortunately, my family’s experience of caring responsibilities has been quite limited. My mother was unwell for a short time before she died, part of which was spent in hospital and part of which was spent at home being cared for by me and my wife.

My wife’s mother who lived near London was terminally ill with cancer for several years and was cared for by her daughters and sons (including my wife, but mostly by my wife's sisters since we lived 200 miles away in Manchester).

In our country there are many young carers, as well as old carers. Without their voluntary efforts, our National Health Service would simply be unable to cope. However, carers are often invisible, and we fail as a society to give them enough support.

That is why Ed has made it his personal mission to change that. Reading this book will help you to understand why. I don’t think anyone will read the book without being deeply moved and I recommend it to everyone.