Brit Tory MP stands up for habeus corpus. Seething colleagues denounce him as "barmy."

Davis resignation: Unlikely hero of liberal Britain shocks the political establishment

By Andrew Grice

David Davis became an unlikely hero of liberal Britain yesterday by sacrificing his political career to launch a one-man crusade against the Government's plan for suspected terrorists to be detained for 42 days without charge.

The former SAS reservist, who supports the death penalty for premeditated murder, shook Britain's political establishment to its roots by announcing he would stand down as an MP to fight a by-election to stop the "slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms".

The former shadow home secretary's bombshell left David Cameron and many Tory colleagues seething. But outside the Westminster village, the reaction was very different. Mr Davis's Commons office was flooded with telephone calls and emails from members of the public praising him for putting his principles before his career.

While Tory MPs queued up to denounce Mr Davis as "barmy" and "mad", the reaction of the party's grassroots was more favourable. A poll of 1,200 Tory members by the ConservativeHome website showed that 65 per cent of them were "inspired" by his decision. Only 24 per cent share Mr Cameron's anxiety that the Tories need to be careful not to get on the wrong side of public opinion on 42-day detention, while 72 per cent disagreed. Some 70 per cent of Tory members want Mr Davis to be reinstated as shadow home secretary if, as expected, he wins a by-election that neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats will contest.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/davis-resignation-unlikely-hero-of-liberal-britain-shocks-the-political-establishment-846220.html

n/t

from the same article

"The name of my constituency is Haltemprice and Howden – is derived from a medieval proverb meaning noble endeavour. Until yesterday I took a view that what we did in the House of Commons – representing our constituents was a noble endeavour because for centuries ... we defended the freedom of people. Well, we did, up until yesterday.

"This Sunday is the anniversary of Magna Carta, a document that guarantees the fundamental element of British freedom, habeas corpus. The right not to be imprisoned by the state without charge or reason.

But yesterday this house allowed the state to lock up potentially innocent citizens for up to six weeks without charge. The Counter-Terrorism Bill will, in all probability, be rejected by the House of Lords very firmly. After all, what should they be there for, if not to protect Magna Carta?

:thumbsup:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x24491

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x24519

I'm not sure it's a particularly good move, myself. He was in the most powerful position in the country, shadow Home Secretary, from which to oppose the government on this. His party, with the exception of one lone MP (and she's a well-known "lock 'em up" nutter), voted with him. And yet he thinks resigning as an MP, and giving up that position, is the thing to do.

OK, it generates lots of news stories (the story was already top in the news, but his resignation has undoubtedly extended the time in the headlines). But it also causes bad feelings in an opposition which, until then, had seemed united on this point.

The only area I can see where this might do some good is if he changes public opinion on this. Before the vote in the Commons, 2 polls showed 65% supporting the government, with 30% supporting Davis' line of 28 days, and then 69% and 24%. Now, if Davis' idea is to knock some sense into the public by getting extra media time until they get out of their reactionary cringe of terror, then it could be worthwhile.

As Muriel pointed out in this thread, all but one MP voted against the proposed legislation and so they are essentially in agreement with him -he's not being denounced as barmy because he holds those views but because of the actions he has taken in resigning his House of Commons seat

Davis is on the right wing of the party -he supports the re-implementation of the death penalty and he voted against repealing Section 28 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28 in relation to homosexuality. David Cameron, the current Tory leader, is to the left of him politically. Davis was Cameron's opponent from the right in the 2005 leadership ballot that elected Cameron as Leader

His colleagues are denouncing him for predominantly two reasons:
1. The Brown government and the governing Labour Party are deeply divided over the proposed legislation and the Tories had good reason to believe that this could work to their advantage in the coming weeks and months. Many Tory MPs perceive that, by resigning, Davis has undermined the political capital that the Tories could have gained from the Labour Party's division over the issue and has instead ensured that there is an unwelcome focus on the Tory Party and the leadership of David Cameron
2. The move is widely seen as a ploy by David Davis to boost his status as a future leader in the party at the expense of Cameron. Many perceive rightly or wrongly that he is placing his own political interests above those of the party