Shadow home secretary David Davis has resigned over what he called "the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government".
Following a vote by the House of Commons on Wednesday to extend the length of time terrorist suspects can be held without charge from 28 days to 42 days, Davis made his resignation speech outside Parliament on Thursday. He said he intends to force a by-election at his constituency in Haltemprice and Howden (in Yorkshire), to bring to the attention of the British public the "relentless erosion of fundamental British freedoms" such as habeas corpus. He also railed against the proposed identity cards system, the DNA database of schoolchildren, and the proliferation of CCTV.
"In truth, 42 days is just one, perhaps the most salient example, of the insidious, surreptitious and relentless erosion of fundamental British freedoms," said Davis in his speech. "We will have, shortly, the most intrusive identity card system in the world; a CCTV camera for every 14 citizens; [and] a DNA database bigger than any dictatorship has, with thousands of innocent children and millions of innocent citizens on it."
Davis said British citizens had witnessed the creation of a "database state", which had opened up our private lives to "the prying eyes of official snoopers, and exposing our personal data to careless civil servants and criminal hackers".
"This cannot go on, it must be stopped," said Davis. "And for that reason I feel it is incumbent on me to take a stand. I will be resigning my membership of this House, and I intend to force a by-election in Haltemprice and Howden. I will fight it, I will argue this by-election, against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government."
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"Now that may mean I've made my last speech to the house. It is possible, and of course would be a cause of deep regret to me, but at least my electorate, and the nation as a whole, would have had the opportunity to debate and consider one of the most fundamental issues of our day: the ever intrusive power of the state into our lives, the loss of privacy, the loss of freedom, and the steady attrition undermining the rule of law," Davis added.
In response to the news of Davis's resignation, Phil Booth, one of the co-ordinators of the No2ID campaign, said on Thursday: "No2ID applauds David Davis's extraordinary decision to put his career on the line in denouncing the destruction of our basic liberties." Booth continued: "This principled move by such a serious and respected politician clearly acknowledges the database state as one of the principle threats to our freedoms. We knew he was very robust in his opposition to ID cards and the database state, but I'm not sure anyone expected something like this."
The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, appeared to suggest there might be an ulterior motive behind Davis's resignation. "Faced with a crucial decision on the safety and protection of the British public, the Conservatives have collapsed into total disarray on what is their first big policy test since they have come under greater scrutiny," she said on Thursday. "David Cameron must come clean on what has really happened and why David Davis has really resigned."
The Liberal Democrats have agreed not to contest the triggered by-election, in a show of solidarity with the Conservative MP. Davis will be replaced as shadow home secretary by Dominic Grieve, the member of parliament for Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.
Talkback
I have posted a number of times, here and elsewhere, on these and similar matters so I won't repeat myself.
I would like to think that this will be the beginning of a new approach to politics and that the Conservatives will reconsider their core values and move us away from this all seeing, all knowing, all controlling approach and save us from 'Big Brother'.
In passing, a better aproach to the environmental issues is also required. A constructive one rather than the current government's only solution to so many things - dip (or should I say dig) in our pockets.
It's a pity that Jacqui Smith wasted no time in issuing a derogatory and demeaning statement after her rather poor performance today, particularly after all incentives promised in order to push the new 42-day terror detention limit through Parliament against the consciences of very many of her own party. Where's the integtity In that?
I wish David Davis all the best and hope to see him back in a Parliament fighting for our valued and historical freedoms with renewed strength, rolling back the intrusive state sanctioned excesses.
Finally a politician brave enough to make a real challenge to this mad idea. With populist programs such as Tony Robinsons Crime and Punishment series currently being broadcast, which clearly shows the incredible legacy and complexity of the development of our legal system, I find it amazing that the large majority of this country still thinks this is a good idea. That says much more about how the media generates and then reports on opinion that anything else, and the ridiculous bias we seem to be leaning towards of using any kind of opinion poll to then direct policy decisions.
I think we forget in this country that we elect expert people to make decisions for us, and that we are in no way experts ourselves. This whole debate has moved way beyond where it should be, and to my mind is far too important to be left in the hands of the general public. Has the craze for television that can be voted on managed to convince them that they should control everything? Let them get on with the latest Big Brother or Pop Idol vote instead, decisions much more appropriate for their talents.
I have not been convinced by any facts that this extension is justifiable other than in posturing a popular media position.
All the actions so far have been by people legitimately in location and so would not have been detected by a super ID card. The only way for them to be of use is by constant tracking and being found out of normal trend position. A stance partly taken by ANPR at the moment.
Again this will not be of much use as just finding someone at a different location is currently not a crime, however the framework is now there for them to be held for 42 days whilst their private lives are destroyed.
If we are worried that terrorists will flock to these shores to make us the centre of planning activity, which appeared to be the gist of Blankets arguments, then we should stop them at the gates as undesirables and not dream up ways to lock them up because we don't like the look of them. Mind you I thought the NuLab way was to encourage overseas investors to come here regardless.
As with all these poorly conceived and executed legislation, it will be abused very shortly by some jobsworth scared of endangering his position at the trough.
Once we get to a general election it will be fought on many fields so no vote will be of use, don't forget the last one was fought on the basis of a referendum on Europe, so for Dave to resign to fight one election on this issue alone is brave and gives at least part of the UK population the chance to comment on the constant erosion of freedoms.
I think the other parties should contest the seat, they can make their party pledges if they don't want to raise the freedom issue. Problem is that NuLab will get tanked regardless and the lib dems are a bunch of loonies only supported as people are fed up with the other two. We need a peoples party to represent the majority of us.
I think I would possibly vote for DD if he was down here.
The Tories gained a whole bunch of brownie points in my estimation after this. I don't even care is DD is showboating, at least he's showboating for an excellent cause; trying to kick the wheels off the centralising, control freak, tax happy, paranoid, totalitarian but completely incompetent nut jobs in power at the moment.