David Davis deserves congratulations for his stand

Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 20th Jun 2008

So the government won the vote on forty two days pre-charge detention by nine votes; co-incidentally nine Democratic Unionist MPs reversed their previous position and voted with the government after, it is rumoured, securing massive extra investment for their constituencies. I can only say that it saddens me if a government that can't win a vote on the arguments buys its way out of trouble.

A day later David Davis, the Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, announced that he would be standing down as an MP and fighting a by-election on the single issue of civil liberties. Opinions among his colleagues are varied, to say the least, with some Tory MPs questioning his sanity, and the party hierarchy disgruntled with his decision.

Having worked closely with David on many of these issues over recent years, however, I know that he is entirely sincere in his concern about the steady erosion of liberties. He is certainly no Liberal, as he would be the first to protest, but he does share the Liberal Democrat views on such things, and I respect him for it. I suspect his resignation may seem quixotic to some, and if there is no opponent from the Labour Party the campaign in Haltemprice and Howden may seem irrelevant. But highlighting issues that are important but which many people do not understand is far from irrelevant, and I salute him for it.