David Davis risks splitting Tory ranks with civil liberties stand

In an elaborate stunt to highlight his personal loathing of the 42-day detention clause in the Counter Terror Bill, and to put pressure on his fellow Tories to repeal it when they come to power, David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, announced today that he is resigning as an MP in order to fight his Humberside seat - as a Conservative - on the issue of civil liberties.

Davis told reporters outside the House of Commons: "I will argue in this by-election against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government."

His extraordinary decision has left fellow Tory MPs stunned, confused and growing angry. It looks like Davis is making a stand against Tory leader David Cameron who he believes will prefer to keep the extended limit on the statute book rather than alienate the public by repealing a popular law.

As for the opposition, first the Lib Dems and later the Labour party decided not to contest Davis’s seat - Haltemprice and Howden - when the by-election is called in July. The Lib Dems took their decision in support of David’s principled stand, while Labour said they would not play his games. Either way, Davis will be left to fight a range of fringe candidates - from UKIP, the Monster Raving Loony Party, etc - in what is in danger of looking like an ego-trip campaign.

David Cameron said the decision was a "personal" one, praising his "courageous" move and even promising to go to Hull to campaign for him. Tellingly, however, he announced that rather than holding Davis's front-bench job open for him until after the by-election, he was appointing a new shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, who has won a decent reputation for himself during the 42 days saga as shadow Attorney General.

Grieve then went on television to announce that the Tories will definitely repeal the 42-day detention law when they come to power - thus making Davis’s move seemingly pointless.

Behind the brave face, how does Cameron truly feel about all this? An unnecessary by-election is the last thing he needs. He was sailing along without a care in the world, leading Gordon Brown in the opinion polls. The by-election has thrown Brown a lifeline, offering Labour the chance to exploit splits in the Tory ranks.

And if and when he wins the next general election, Cameron will not want to be bogged down repealing a law that is generally considered popular among voters, whatever the civil liberty ramifications.

Davis privately admitted to colleagues on Wednesday night that Labour would try to exploit the vote on the extension of pre-charge detention to suggest that, by opposing it, the Tories were 'soft on terror'. But he insisted he was not worried about being put "in the wrong place" by Labour on the terror issue.

That confidence was not shared by many Tory MPs who are worried that the Government can play the popular terror card in the coming months. Davis acknowledged privately that 50 Tory MPs might think he was "mad" but they would come round to his way of thinking, just as Cameron had.

Cameron himself was reluctant to adopt the policy of opposing the extension of detention from 28 days. It was Davis who persuaded him to back his line. Davis privately told allies: "I've converted him."

The question for Davis - who was favourite to lead the Tories after Michael Howard resigned in 2005, but was overtaken by the more charismatic Cameron - is whether, by the time he returns to Parliament, the caravan will have moved on, with Cameron glad to have one of his more prickly colleagues out of the way.

The danger is that Davis will have sacrificed not only his seat in the Shadow Cabinet but, come the election, also his chance to be the first Tory Home Secretary in more than a dozen years.

THE MOLE: DAVIS RESIGNATION

FIRST POSTED JUNE 12, 2008