Thursday, June 12, 2008

I am resigning from the opposition because I oppose the policy of the government.

Er...I haven't thought this through properly, have I?

8 comments:

jfs said...

"I am resigning from my post so that I can really, really rub the noses of the government in the dirt by standing almost unapposed, retake my post and crow loudly that my mandate is now clearly based on the platform of increasing civil liberties."

Davies has a 5000+ majority, with second place in that constituency going to the Lib Dems who have announced that they won't stand against him in this by-election.

Labour are going to have to fight this one long and hard, or put up with the fact that the Shadow Home Secretary was elected on a 75%+ majority specifically with a civil liberties mandate. That's a fight they can't really afford at the moment, either financially or politically.

Much as I dislike the Tory party on general principle, it's a brilliant political move.

Andrew Hickey said...

From various bits on Lib Dem blogs I read, it seems there were *huge* splits in the Shadow Cabinet, that Davies only managed to persuade Cameron over to his side in the belief that they would win the vote, and there is a *very* good chance he'll be voting with (if not a member of) the Lib Dems after the by-election...

Louise H said...

I'm instinctively in favour of anyone who makes politics more interesting.

However I do wonder how much he will in fact be campaigning on 42 days and ID cards, and how much he will stray into the territory of speed cameras, repealing the Human Rights Act and the wickedness of the hunting ban, all of which can equally be seen as an infringement of personal liberties by the State if you happen to be of a libertarian frame of mind.

In fact virtually every issue in politics can be framed as an issue of state boundaries, tax and benefits not least.

But good luck to him anyway. He's clearly upset both Labour and Conservatives, so that has to be a good thing to start off with.

Tanya said...

He could do that, of course (hunting, speed cameras etc.) but if he's heading LibDemwards it mightn't be the best way to get a front bench job (do LibDems have front benches? - strategically placed floor cushion, perhaps). I'm not sure how someone who studied computer science at Warwick ended up in the Tory party at all... His speech on the 42 day issue was quite cogent, I thought - if a bit dumbed down for a Commons audience... http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=145242

Andrew Hickey said...

Tanya - probably his opposition to homosexuality and support of the death penalty had something to do with him joining the Tories...

Tanya said...

Er, yes, that would do it...

Mark said...

@hickey:
Iain Dale's blog has perhaps the best response to the anti-gay whispering campaign against Davis.

As for the tactics of the move, the 42 days 'win' was supposed to be the platform for the most recent Brown relaunch. Davis stole that media cycle out from under the PM...

Andrew Hickey said...

Mark - I'm not going off any kind of 'whispering campaign' but rather from his voting record, which I checked at theyworkforyou as soon as the news broke. I'm not connected enough to have been whispered to...

Every vote he's ever attended on a gay rights issue (he's been absent for the more recent ones) he's voted against gay rights. (Having said that and giving the devil his due, the one time he's voted on transsexual rights, he voted in favour of allowing people to stay married after transition).

Davis is a Tory traditionalist - he's for the rule of law, and opposed to reductions in civil liberties on that basis - but he's no liberal or libertarian, and he's never really supported an *increase* in personal freedom.