When the Lib Dems first started taking staunchly Tory commuter belt seats in byelections, one of the main drivers was the disquiet felt among more centrist Conservatives about the noisy populism of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

This ideological shift seems set to continue, whoever takes over from Rishi Sunak, Davey said: “I think even their most centrist candidate is going to be more to the right than the Conservative party usually is. You get a sense of a party that is still very divided, hasn’t any serious thinking, isn’t prepared to admit mistakes.

“Time will tell, but if they double down, like they look like they’re going to, I think the strategy I’m outlining here is more than credible. Quite where it’ll end, I’m not going to predict. We are not hubristic in any way.”

One positive sign for this tactic of entrenchment and expansion is that the Lib Dems held on to all the byelection seats they took from the Conservatives, despite widespread predictions these would be one-off wins.

Such was the extent of the Lib Dem surge that Helen Morgan tripled her majority largely rural and Brexit-minded North Shropshire, while in two south-west areas that were divided due to boundary changes, the Lib Dems won all four successor seats.