British MP resigns over terror laws as further restriction of freedom and privacy

[Kernunnos]

In a stunning and I would say brave move a british MP, David Davis, resign in protest for the new anti-terror laws that allows detention for 42 days as another hit to freedom in Britain.

In his resignation speech he cites the infringement of the right of habeas corpus, the violation of the principles as old as Magna Charta, as well as other important violation of personal freedom already enacted by the present social-"democratic" government, including biometric ID cards, wiretapping, surveillance cameras.

There is a video with his poignant and worrisome, spine tingling speech, a speech that enlightens impressively the sad moment we are all living.

source: Telegraph

To listen to his speech click here


David Davis stuns Westminster with resignation over 42-day terror law

By Andrew Porter, Political Editor
The Conservative Party has been plunged into turmoil after David Davis, one of the party’s most senior members,David Davis, one of the Conservative Party's most senior members, unexpectedly resigned as an MP.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis speaks about his decision to step down as an MP to "take a stand" over the Government's 42-day terror detention plan ; News Generic Embedded Player TMG: Business - Brightcove
In a surprise move that shocked David Cameron, the shadow home secretary announced he was quitting the front bench following Gordon Brown’s victory over the 42 day terrorism laws.
After enjoying eight months of positive publicity and a series of recent electoral successes, Mr Davis’s move marks a significant setback for Mr Cameron.
The Tory leader will now have to deal with the biggest upheaval and uncertainty of his leadership, since fighting off a possible early election last autumn.

Publicly, Mr Cameron said the move was “brave and courageous”. But Conservative insiders now believe Mr Davis has “lost the plot.”
The move stunned Westminster and shocked Tory MPs. Mr Davis acknowledged that he could be risking his own political future.
By standing down as an MP, Mr Davis will spark a by-election in his Yorkshire seat, where he will stand again as a Tory candidate campaigning on the issue of civil liberties.
But that move on Thursday night looked in danger of backfiring as both Labour and the Liberal Democrats said they would not field candidates in the by-election.
Labour insiders were delighted that after months of watching Mr Cameron wrack up a seemingly unassailable opinion poll lead as Gordon Brown suffered a string of setbacks, it was now Mr Cameron who had been dealt an unexpected blow.
One Government minister ridiculed Mr Davis and said he risked standing in Haltemprice and Howden against “Miss Whiplash and the Monster Raving Loony Party.”
An uncontested election would deny Mr Davis the platform he wants to protest against the 42 day laws.
Tory insiders also believe Mr Davis has now cast himself in to the political wilderness. Mr Cameron immediately replaced him, appointing Dominic Grieve on a permanent basis, and there was no guarantee Mr Davis would return to the shadow cabinet.
A source close to Mr Cameron claimed Mr Davis is “finished”. Mr Davis told Mr Cameron of his decision - first hinted at in Thursday's Telegraph - in the leader’s office after the controversial vote 42-day detention on Wednesday night.
Mr Cameron - furious at Mr Davis for diverting attention from the Conservatives’ recent successes - told him the move was “very, very risky” but the Tory leader’s attempts to change his mind failed.
The move will be seen as a challenge to Mr Cameron’s authority and has led some to suggest that it exposes divisions within the Conservatives between the modernisers and the more traditional wing of the party.
Despite his high poll ratings some Tory supporters still want Mr Cameron to adopt a more traditional Conservative agenda of small state and low taxes.
In a further sign that he has been cut adrift by the Tory leadership, no funding from the party HQ will go to his by-election campaign, where he will defend a majority of 5,116.
Mr Davis had been hopeful that he could, with the help of a Labour a rebellion, defeat Gordon Brown’s 42-day detention plan.
However, the Government won by nine votes with the vital support of the Democratic Unionist Party MPs. It was the manner of that defeat, which Mr Davis took personally, that led to his extraordinary decision.
He said that the defeat “put iron in my soul.” In a statement delivered on the steps of the House of Commons, Mr Davis said he was protesting against the “insidious and monstrous” erosion of civil liberties in Britain.
Mr Davis has been the Conservatives’ most effective Commons performer over the past five years as shadow home secretary. But he clashed with Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, over how hard to oppose the 42-day detention limit.
It is understood that Mr Cameron was not committed to backing the current 28-day limit if the legislation came back to the Commons next year.
Allies of Mr Cameron were keen not to be characterised as “soft on terror” and were conscious that opinion polls show the public overwhelmingly in favour of the 42-day limit.
Some Tory MPs were left bemused by Mr Davis’s decision. With the Tories a long way ahead in the polls and favourites to win the next election, Mr Davis could have been Home Secretary within two years if he had stayed on the front bench.
One ally of Mr Cameron said: “It is a very odd thing to do. He looks like a slightly tired old man now who has missed his chance as leader. He has acted in haste and will probably regret it when he’s simply another backbencher.”
A senior Conservative MP close to David Davis attacked his decision. “It’s an odd decision by David, but he is quite headstrong. We are over 20 points ahead in the polls, heading for victory and he does this. There is a touch of self indulgence about it. I feel a bit uneasy about it.
"He will look very, very silly if there is any kind of terrorist incident in the next six weeks.”
But Duncan Gilmour, Mr Davis’s local party chairman, said: “David is a man of principle and we fully back him.”
Lord Kalms, the founder of Dixons who was treasurer for Mr Davis’s leadership campaign, said: “This has always been his passion but it’s a very dramatic decision. David Davis is more deeply concerned about this subject than any other and he’s planted his flag on this one. I don’t think that David Cameron has quite the same priorities. It’s all about the intensity of opposition. I would be totally supportive of David Davis.”
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, accused the Conservatives of being in “total disarray”.
Miss Smith said: “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.
”David Cameron must come clean on what has really happened and why David Davis has really resigned.”
Mr Davis said: “Up until yesterday I took the view that what we did in the House of Commons, representing our constituents was a noble endeavour because with centuries of forebears we defended the freedoms of the British people - well we did up until yesterday.”
Mr Cameron pointedly said that it was Mr Davis’s decision alone.
He said: “It is a decision he has made. It is not a decision of the shadow cabinet.”
He appointed Mr Grieve as the new shadow home secretary and made it clear that if Mr Davis was returned as an MP he would not be returned to the same front bench brief.
Mr Cameron said: “We cannot put home affairs on pause and it is my job to ensure that we have a team that’s ready for government.”
The by-election is expected to be held on July 10.

[Kernunnos]

Do principles still have a place in politics?

Last Updated: 8:11PM BST 12/06/2008 | Comments 4 | Have Your Say
David Davis has resigned as an MP in order to "take a stand" against what he has called the "insidious and monstrous" erosion of civil liberties in Britain.


Eddie Mulholland
Do you respect David Davis for the decision he took?

The shadow Home Secretary lead the Conservatives' opposition to the Government's plans to extend detention without trial to 42 days, but the Government won the Commons vote by a narrow margin.
Mr Davis made it clear he was standing by his principles,saying: "Up until yesterday I took the view that what we did in the House of Commons, representing our constituents was a noble endeavour because with centuries of forebears we defended the freedoms of the British people - well we did up until yesterday."
Was the shadow Home Secretary right to put his principles first? Will he win respect for his actions or will people see him as out of touch with the mood of the nation?
Do you think that principles have lost their place in modern politics, and if so, why? Could principled politics make a comeback?

[orieleye]

It shows disaffection with the Tories as much as anything else. Only he resigned.

[Kernunnos]

source


Labour MPs are preparing to support David Davis's civil liberties campaign, in a further blow to Gordon Brown after last week's rebellion over 42-day detention for terrorism suspects.

Bob Marshall Andrews, the veteran backbencher, confirmed that he would campaign for the former shadow home secretary in the by-election which Mr Davis will trigger today by standing down as an MP.


The Government's plans to extend detention without charge for terrorism suspects was passed, despite a revolt by 36 Labour backbenchers. The vote only passed with the support of Democratic Unionist Party MPs.


The result led Mr Davis to resign as shadow home secretary in disgust.

Under party rules, any Labour members who actively campaign for a rival candidate are open to disciplinary proceedings. Despite this, Mr Marshall Andrews said he would be speaking for "a very large part of the Labour party'' by supporting Mr Davis.


He added: "This is something which needs to be debated. If they don't, I am very sorry. But that doesn't mean to say that the rest of us can't go into the campaign and say precisely that." Ian Gibson, the Labour MP for Norwich North, added: "Davis has a good argument. You can call it a stunt or a gimmick, but there is a serious side to this. I'm quite happy to join in."


It looks increasingly likely that Labour will not put a candidate up against Mr Davis, turning the contest into a sideshow as the Liberal Democrats have already ruled out contesting the by-election.


In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Davis accused Gordon Brown of "gutlessness", adding: "This is a man who bottled it on the general election, bottled it on a referendum and now he is going to bottle it even on a by-election where he could bring the full resources of his party to play against me and argue this."


Meanwhile, the Conservative façade that Mr Davis enjoys the full backing of his colleagues began to crack as leading figures criticised his decision to call the by-election in his constituency of Haltemprice and Howden.


William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "I would have preferred him to stay at his post as shadow home secretary. He has got the endorsement of a Labour MP and I think this does show the extent of division within the Labour Party on this matter.


"Do we wish that he had stayed in his post as shadow home secretary? Yes we do, certainly I wish that very much."


Geoff Hoon, Labour's Chief Whip, said: "I think it's more to do with the row inside the senior leadership of the Conservative party than it has anything to do with a Parliamentary process."


But Mr Davis denied there was a rift with his party leader, adding: "This is not about David Cameron and me."


Labour plans to write to every MP and Conservative candidate asking whether they support Mr Davis in his opposition to the extension of CCTV cameras.

[Kernunnos]

source



Iraq veteran to join Davis campaign

By Colin Brown


Monday, 16 June 2008




Colonel Tim Collins, the British officer who was praised for his speech before the invasion of Iraq, is backing David Davis's by-election campaign against Big Brother anti-terror laws. Mr Davis, who has resigned as shadow home secretary to fight the by-election in his East Yorkshire seat over the extension of pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects to 42 days, said the retired colonel was a hero who would campaign with him.


"He is going to come and talk about how you defeat terrorism without using repression," Mr Davis said. Col Collins is best known for his address to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, as they prepared for battle.


Mr Davis has rejected pressure from Tory leaders to give up his by-election bid, saying that Conservative support in one opinion poll has gone up two points since he made his stand against "Surveillance Britain".



He said he had been inundated with calls of support from the public, and he has been offered backing from Labour dissidents including Bob Marshall-Andrews and Ian Gibson. Mr Davis attacked Gordon Brown for "gutlessness" in refusing to put up a Labour MP to fight him in the seat.
Mr Davis's stand risks overshadowing a speech today on green issues by David Cameron. The Tory leader will seek to reclaim the initiative by insisting the environment should remain on the political agenda, in spite of the rise in global oil prices and the credit crunch.


"I want to tackle an argument that when times are good, we can indulge ourselves with a bit of environmentalism, but when the economic going gets tough, the green agenda has to be dropped," he will say. "We will take forward our green agenda in a way that strengthens the economy – not green or growth, but both."

[Llywarch Hen]

Originally Posted by Kernunnos

Iraq veteran to join Davis campaign

Colonel Tim Collins, the British officer who was praised for his speech before the invasion of Iraq, is backing David Davis's by-election campaign against Big Brother anti-terror laws.

I've been out of the country for a long while, and missed a lot of things, and so I had to look up this Collins and his speech, and so I thought I'd add a link for others unfamiliar with the man:

Colonel Tim Collins\' Speech

Colonel Tim Collins' Speech

Colonel Tim Collins' speech to around 800 men of the battlegroup of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, part of the 16 Air Assault Brigade given at their Fort Blair Mayne camp in the Kuwaiti desert about 20 miles from the Iraqi border on Wednesday 19 March 2003.

Pensive: Lt Col Tim Collins smokes a cigar after addressing his men
(Click for larger image)
Source: Daily Mail / This is London
Seventy-five per cent of his officers are from Ireland, but he is also in charge of a company of Gurkhas and soldiers from Fiji, Antigua, St Vincent, South Africa, Australia and Canada. The Northern Ireland-based Royal Irish Regiment is 40 percent Catholics from the Irish Republic.
Collins is 42, born and raised in Belfast and now based in barracks at Canterbury with his wife Caroline and five children.
Extracted with my formatting added from the BBC News report: UK troops told: Be just and strong originally from a pooled report by Sarah Oliver of the Mail on Sunday. Oliver reports:

Collins's extempore address was a moving occasion. "He delivered the speech completely off the cuff," she recalls. "He said to me, 'I'll have to say a few words to the men to explain to them why they should take their anthrax drugs and malaria pills, or they just won't bother'. It just grew and grew into something magnificent - it made you realise the true meaning of the term 'rallying cry'.
"It was just after a standstorm and all the men were standing around him in a U-shape in the middle of a very dusty courtyard. A lot of the Irish Rangers are very young and he wanted to explain something of the history and culture of Iraq to them. They knew that the public at home had doubts about the rightness of the war, and he wanted to reassure them and tell them why they were there. He delivered the speech without a note and went on at length. By the end, everyone felt they were ready for whatever lay ahead."

We go to liberate, not to conquer.
We will not fly our flags in their country
We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own.
Show respect for them.
There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly.
Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.
As for the others, I expect you to rock their world.
Wipe them out if that is what they choose.
But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.
Iraq is steeped in history.
It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham.
Tread lightly there.
You will see things that no man could pay to see
-- and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.
You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.
Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country.
Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.
If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day.
Allow them dignity in death.
Bury them properly and mark their graves.
It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive.
But there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.
We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back.
There will be no time for sorrow.
The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction.
There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam.
He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done.
As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.
It is a big step to take another human life.
It is not to be done lightly.
I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts.
I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them.
If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.
The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.
If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer.
You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest -- for your deeds will follow you down through history.
We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.
(On Saddam's chemical and biological weapons.)
It is not a question of if, it's a question of when.
We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself.
If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.
As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.
Our business now is north.

Copyright Tim Collins, 2003

[Errigal]

Sadly Col. Tim Collins appears to be an idiot. History is full of recently retired army officers looking for new adventures and Col. Collins is one of these.

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The British MP, David Davis seems to be doing the right thing though.