David Davis wins 42 day debate!

On the eve of the by election in Haltemprice and Howden, David Davis has clearly won the debate which Labour through sheer cowardice refused to have.

In an ICM poll conducted for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust now 61% of people are against holding people for longer than 28 days without charge. Of those who support 42 detention without charge, when told that is equivalent to a jail term for something like burglary 36% then change their minds.

The survey also is a blow to people who want an ever expanding DNA database with 75% thinking that innocent people should bot be on the database permanently.

In that sense David Davis has clearly won the debate. It is just a shame that the BBC refuse to cover it.

Iain Dale has this, whilst the press release is here and the full data here.

In reply to David Davis Critics

Much waffle has issued forth on this issue, so I will cut to the chase. A conversation on PoliticalBetting.com.

To this comment from Sea Shanty Irish here, I replied thus:

I could not agree less.

David Davis is so certain to retain his seat that the only question on the betting odds is whether you can beat the bank interest rates.

The real issue is how he changes the political weather on the issue.

Viscount Stansgate (My Lord Tony Benn for those not in the know) says there are two types of politician, the weathercock and the signpost.

What David Davis is trying to do is to change the weather so that he brings the weathercocks with him.

I think that is all that need be said on the matter.

Or at least I would, if Labour, led by Gordon "bottler" Brown could put up some kind of argument.

Gordon Brown bottles it again!

It seems Gordon Brown has bottled it again refusing to put up a candidate in the Haltemprice and Howden by election against David Davis. It seems Rupert Murdoch has bottled it as well.

So he does not want to defend this governments erosion of liberties?

Fantastic.

Bottler.

The BBC has this.

The Sun backs David Davis again!

The Sun is backing David Davis again as one of its columists, Fergus Shanahan also writes a column in support of David Davis' stand.

He points out things like the 3 pensioners harrased by police for wearing protest t-shirts,

In one telling passage he says:

Davis has hit the nail on the head. We HAVE allowed ourselves to be browbeaten by fears of Islamic terror attacks into abandoning too many of our freedoms something I have said for months. Many Sun readers agree with me.

They aren’t soft on terror any more than I am.

But like me they worry that this is ceasing to be a country we feel at ease in, or the country we once knew.

A country of ID cards and databases, secret cameras, tax snoopers who can barge into your house and council spies who can fine you £200 just for dropping a crisp.

A country where any minor official can intercept your emails.

A country where any NHS manager can access your private medical records.

A country where you can be forced to give your DNA to police even though you are guilty of no offence.

And then goes on to bust the anti Davis myths:

Three myths are peddled by Davis’s opponents.

The first is that if you are against 42 days, you are soft on terror.

Rubbish. I have backed capital punishment for terrorist murderers while many of those kicking Davis are against it. How am I soft on terror?

The second myth is that weary old chestnut: "If you’ve nothing to hide, why worry?" That’s what German civilians told each other as they looked the other way while the concentration camps were being built.

The third myth is that there is massive public support for 42 days.

Yet I can find only one recent poll giving a clear majority for Brown. The internet is full of opposition to 42 days.

It seems David Davis has indeed changed the debate and hit a nerve.

Well done!

David Davis campaign website is here.

David Davis website goes live!

David Davis for freedom website goes live, here.

Meanwhile he has written some articles on Conservative Home here, for The Evening Standard here, and of course there is his Telegraph article here.

Then of course there is Frank Fisher on Comment is Free here, about the rowback of the media.

Murdoch bottles it! He will not take on David Davis!

According to this article on the Spectator Coffee house blog Rupert Murdoch has bottled the fight as well. As noted earlier the Sun seems to be turning.

Apparently whilst Rupert Murdoch does not like David Cameron, he is fairly sure that Gordon Brown will lose the next general election.

So Gordon Brown does not have the courage of Rupert Murdoch's convictions and neither does Rupert! Fantastic.

Is the Sun going to back David Davis?

Reports from Wapping yesterday indicate that there may have been a major traffic incident.

One bystander reported seeing a large re topped juggernaut driving at speed, saw it swerve and then all its wheels locked up, causing massive amounts of blue smoke as it did a complete U turn. The smoke from the tyres hung in the air for hours.

There was only one reported casualty, Kelvin Mackenzie, who appeared to be struck dumb. Not that anyone noticed.

Seriously there is this article in today's Sun by Trevor Kavanagh which says David Davis is right.

Choice quotes include:

Annoyingly, though, it is hard to disagree with the cause Davis has decided to embrace.

Britain IS now a nation of unaccountable snoopers with sweeping powers to pry into every nook and cranny of our daily lives.

Yet, thanks to their blundering incompetence, none of us feels safer in our bed, on the roads or walking the streets at night.

He goes on:

But along with many Sun readers, I don’t trust this Government, the police or the State bureaucracy to discriminate between keeping an eye out for our well-being and spying on us.

Information is power. And the authorities — national and local — have far too much of the stuff already.

The idea that thousands of anonymous, low-ranking town hall officials can use anti-terror laws to monitor our movements should make us sweat.

Good stuff. I wonder if this does signal a change of heart at Wapping. Not only does Gordon Brown have the courage of Rupert Murdoch's convictions, Rupert appears not to either and he may even be changing his mind!

Hat tip to Gin on Politicalbetting.com for the Sun article.

David Davis: In his own words

David Davis wrote an article for the Telegraph on Friday explaining his actions. You can read the here.

He was also interviewed by Andrew Marr on Sunday and That interview is here.

I can understand why so many people, especially in the Westminster village are horrified. To some extent I agree. When I heard the news it felt like a kick in the guts.

However what you need to understand is the drip drip erosion of our liberties that mean that a student was arrested, charged and tried for suggesting a police horse could be gay, a 15 year old was held for accusing Scientology of being a "cult" and three pensioners were seized by police over their t shirts. All in the name of "making a safer society".

Do you feel safer? I don't. That is the point. This has gone on for the last 11 years, has grabbed great headlines in the Murdoch press, and has (previously) kept Labour's position in polls. The problem is that this has got to stop. The debate needs to be changed, and it needs to be changed now.

The Conservative party can't go into the next election being painted as soft on terror, nor can it do so advocating un British laws that are counter productive. The boil needs to be lanced, the battle joined and Murdoch defeated. (Lets face facts here, Gordon Brown appears to have no principles or courage, so the argument is not with Brown who will do what ever he thinks will get Murdoch's endorsement but with the man himself. After all, why talk to the monkey when you can skewer the organ grinder).

David Davis: Cynics to the left of him, Cynics to the right of him

And into the valley of scorn rode David Davis.

Then they joined him from the left of him from the right of him and the fight against this hideous law!

It is amazing that the Westminster bubble has been caught totally off guard by a principled politician, then even further off guard by the public response.

Needless to say I support David Davis 100%.