Sir Ed picked out his best tennis whites and picked up a racquet to hit some tennis balls at St Ann’s Well Gardens on Tuesday morning.

The Lib Dem leader stepped out onto the court with Daisy Cooper ahead of a celebratory speech at the party’s conference in Brighton where he danced and sang along to Abba in front of an adoring crowd.

He said: “It’s been joyful, hasn’t it?

Ed Davey playing tennis with Daisy Cooper (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

“Getting together to celebrate, and to start planning the future – having fun, but with a serious focus.

“It reminds me of our election campaign. Do you know they wanted me to wear a wetsuit today?

“But I said it was abseiling or nothing, so here we are, having a party after winning our largest number of MPs for over 100 years.”

Ed Davey on the tennis court (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Sir Ed has been making his presence known in Brighton for the Lib Dem conference, arriving on a jet ski and playing beach volleyball over the weekend.

He later helped to build a stile in nearby Ditchling and then took to the tennis court with Lib Dem MP Daisy Cooper.Ed Davey playing tennis (Image: Gareth Fuller)

The leader earlier said his new MPs were “mustard keen” to represent Sussex after the party won 72 seats at the General Election.

The antics followed his campaign which included bungee jumps, roller skating and water slides.

The party registered its best electoral performance ever in July, making Sir Ed the most successful Lib Dem leader of all time at the ballot box.