He was educated at the independent Cheadle Hulme School (1965–1972), at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1972–1975, reading history) and from 1975 to 1977 at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

[1][2] Davies was a Liberal member of Liverpool City Council from 1980 to 1984, representing Abercromby ward and serving as Chairman of the Housing Committee.

[6] His efforts included dressing as a fish in the European Parliament to raise awareness of the need for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

During his time as an MEP, Davies was active in the environment, climate and energy policy sectors, and served as the ALDE coordinator (team leader) on the ENVI committee from 2007.

In 2006, Davies was forced to resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats group in the European Parliament, due to the tone of a series of emails he exchanged with a Jewish constituent.

[13][14][15] In 2008, Davies made some widely publicised comments on an unpublished report which, he claimed, contained evidence of "embezzlement and fraud" among EU parliament members.