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A Blow For The People?
The resignation of Conservative MP David Davis over the 42 day detention law has been greeted with dismay in the conservative press and delight on the left. Columnists and leader writers on the Times, Telegraph and Sun have queued to attack Davis's "egomania" and "political lunacy;" the Times leader said that the soi-disant right-winger had gone from "bruiser to loser."
On the left, the Guardian echoes jeering from Labour HQ, where the resignation was declared a ridiculous stunt. Gordon Brown has described it as "a farce" and says Labour will not contest Davis' seat, leaving him to debate his stance with a cast of fringe parties and electoral nutters. The newspaper claims that the previously cocky Conservatives have been "left in disarray" by Davis; all sides publish mutterings about the former Shadow Home Secretary's sanity.
We think the papers have got this one wrong, however.
Certainly the Tories are furious that David Cameron's six-month run of good fortune has been brought to an end, and thanks to the antics of someone on the front bench, too. Davis should have known better, they fume, arguing that with a twenty-point lead in the polls the party should be concentrating on keeping a steady hand on the tiller, not throwing divisions within the party into sharp focus.
But look beyond the newspapers and the official commentariat for a different story.
The "have your say" comments on all major newspapers are overwhelmingly behind Davis - and the reaction transcends left-right divides. On the left, there is relief (and not a little shame) that someone was willing to take a stance against the bill, even if it was a veteran right winger. On the right, where there is less sympathy for suspected suicide bombers, there is delight that Davis has broadened his attack to take in the erosion of human rights and traditions which has taken place under New Labour.
Davis spoke of his opposition to ID cards, DNA testing for millions of innocents, ineffective CCTV cameras and governmental snooping: All rather outside his narrow 42 day clause, but all feeding into the unease with which Britons have greeted the transformation of their previously tolerant country into a surveillance society.
EURSOC has always complained that the New Labour government has been arming itself with the means to become a police state; a prominent MP putting aside party tribalism to stand with the people and say "enough is enough" is a new phenomenon and very welcome.
The mainstream press - and the Conservative Party - should be ashamed that Davis stands alone here.
