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.

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.