Ed Davey: My advice to my teenage self? To have kids earlier

Each week we ask a public figure to delve into their childhood, and look at how their early experiences influenced the man they grew up to be.

Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats and author of Why I Care , was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and now lives in Surrey with his wife Emily and their two children, Ellie (11) and John (17). After both his parents died by the time he was 15, he was brought up by his grandparents. Here, Davey talks about heartbreak, rediscovering old friendships, and his greatest fear for the future .

I often felt lonely when my mum was ill with bone cancer and secondary breast cancer. I was a young carer [Davey’s father died when he was four], with very different daily experiences from my friends at school, although I didn’t realise it at t