Kingston and Surbiton MP Ed Davey has spoken of the moment he risked his life to carry a woman over live train tracks to safety.
In his first major interview since becoming Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Mr Davey, 46, told the Independent how he acted after a woman fell between a train and a platform at Clapham Junction station in December 2004:
“She hadn’t gone on to the live line, but she wasn’t moving,” he told the Independent.
“Everyone went ‘ooh… ahhh… gosh’, but didn’t seem to be doing anything,” he said.
The then 28-year-old Davey jumped onto the line to rescue the woman, who he said had been pushed out of the train onto the platform by a man before she fell.
“I was wondering whether to move her or not, and I looked up. It was late at night and there were these two big lights coming my way,” he told the Independent.
“I decided that I had to go across the live rails to the other side,” he said.
As the next train approached, Davey’s decision saved both the woman’s and his own life.
His actions earned him a Royal Humane Society bravery award in 1994 and a commendation by the police.
MP for Surbiton since 1997, Mr Davey was revealed as an expenses ‘saint’ in the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009 that led to the jailing of four MPs and two Lords.
Though he was entitled to a second home allowance, he and the six other outer London Liberal Democrat MPs at the time did not claim anything.
Mr Davey is a close confident of Nick Clegg and co-wrote the 2004 Orange Book, a right wing economic manifesto that continues to divide the Liberal Democrat party since the formation of the Coalition.
His promotion to the Cabinet came in February 2012 when he replaced Chris Huhne who resigned after being charged with perverting the course of justice.
As Energy and Climate Secretary Davey has stressed the need for a “green economy” as a means of growth and of targeting high energy bills for the consumer.
He is currently conducting a survey and campaign to improve life for disabled people in Kingston.
