We’ve now had a few hours to take in the shock resignation of David Davis as Shadow Home Secretary and MP for Haltemprice and Howden. I’ve listened to the views of many politicians and journalists, time for my take on the story.

Principle or Publicity?

The first question people are asking is whether the resignation by Davis is a brave, principled move or a publicity stunt. I suspect the answer is “both”.

David Davis is clearly a man of strong political convictions, especially on the issue of civil liberties. I don’t always agree with him but I do believe in his sincerity. He’s been a staunch fighter against the government over schemes such as compulsory national identity cards and a huge, intrusive National Identity Register (NIR). This is a principled move from that rarest of creature: a Conservative I respect.

Yet it’s also a publicity stunt. Davis has a safe seat and I’m sure that within a month or so he’ll be back in the House of Commons, there’s no serious risk of him losing the election. And no matter how large the scale of his win it won’t change the government’s plans. Gordon Brown is hardly likely to turn round and say “You know, David, you were right after all”.

Of course that doesn’t mean it’s risk free for Davis. Even though he’ll come back into parliament there’s no guarantee he’ll get his old job back. He had been all but guaranteed the job of Home Secretary in a few years - now that’s gone.

To Field or Not To Field?

So who will David Davis be facing in the by-election? Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has already said that they won’t be fielding a candidate. On this issue the Tories and Lib-Dems stand by side.

The big question is whether or not Labour will put up a serious candidate. The early spin suggests they’re trying to play this down as a pointless stunt that they’re not going to waste time worrying about. They probably can’t get away with not contesting the seat - that would simply invite accusations of cowardice - however they could put up a token candidate and try to avoid paying any attention to the by-election.

David Davis has done the right thing, Nick Clegg has done the right thing. Will Gordon Brown do the right thing and put up a serious candidate to engage in a serious public debate?

I doubt it.

Freedom or Fear?

New Labour have been very clever in the way they’ve slowly chipped away at our civil liberties. Unlike the US government they haven’t relied on a massive blunt instrument like the Patriot Act. Rather they’ve used individual fears on a variety of subjects to gradually introduce ever more oppressive laws.

Most of the public pay little attention to politics. They see a threat, read the tabloids and agree that “something must be done”. So long as they believe that the measures are aimed at dangerous “others” then they’re happy to put up with anything. They’re shown the pieces of the jigsaw one at a time and never get a glimpse of the whole picture.

The resignation of David Davis gives us all an opportunity to correct that situation. He’s a high enough profile politician that this story will grab all the headlines. For a few weeks at least the British media will be talking about the big picture of civil liberties in the UK.

I just hope people will listen.

Photo Credit: SouthbankSteve (Creative Commons)

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