Watch Cameron’s face as DD starts life as a freelance

The newly elected MP for Haltemprice and Howden, David Davis, will be introduced to the Commons next week, following his by-election victory yesterday with a majority of 15,355. But all eyes are likely to be on David Cameron's face.

Davis surprised Cameron by pulling off his win with enough votes to prove the Westminster cynics wrong. The 35 per cent turn-out was high enough to avoid any embarrassment over his one-man stand and disprove, among others, the on-line survey by PoliticsHome.com that claimed the turnout would be 20-30 per cent at best.

Cameron will therefore be forced to express some joy at the return of his former Shadow Home Secretary, who will now go to the backbenches. But it will be tinged with doubts over what exactly Davis has in mind.

Cameron was quick to telephone Davis on Friday morning and congratulate him, but the Tory leader now has a potentially difficult backbencher to contend with. And he knows he could be a gathering point for dissent among traditional Tories if 'call me Dave' goes too far with the 'touchy feely' agenda they despise.

Worse, Cameron knows now that there is nothing he can offer Davis to shut him up.

Davis has privately told his close-knit group of friends that he does not expect to go back on the front bench. He can't take up the Home Office post that has gone to Dominic Grieve, and both George Osborne and William Hague look fixtures as Shadow Chancellor and Shadow Foreign Secretary, unless they are caught with their proverbial pants down.

So, barring accidents, the former SAS reservist is prepared for the long haul, on the thin rations of the backbenches. He will wait and see what develops. In the meantime, there are no doubts in Davis's mind about what he must do. He intends to act as a freelance, who will do no harm - at least not intentionally - to his own side, but who will single-mindedly pursue his hobby horses.

They are: 42 days detention without charge; social mobility; foreign affairs - from Afghanistan and weapons of mass destruction to Europe for which he once had ministerial responsibility - and public service reform. These are all areas where Davis has experience.

In the short-term, he intends to write and thank every one of the small donors who sent him a total of £40,000 in fivers and tenners towards his election costs. Then he will do what he always does in the summer, and go for a yomp across the Pennines.

Davis's ace card will come into play next spring when the Lords - led by former MI5 chief, Baroness (Eliza) Manningham-Buller - will reject the Government proposal for 42-day pre-charge detention and it will come back to the Commons, where Davis will lead the fight against it.

Few survive as freelancers in the Commons, unless they are very good. Enoch Powell did. Anti-sleaze MP Martin Bell did for a time. Davis is taking on a hard act. But he for one has no doubts he can do it. Both Cameron and Gordon Brown had better watch out.

THE MOLE: DAVID DAVIS VICTORY

FIRST POSTED JULY 11, 2008