As much as it pains me to say it, I think the answer to that might just be yes. I have always been far to the left of Labour, I would never dream of voting Conservative in any election, but I have to admit that the Tories, through their opposition to ID Cards and 42 Days detention without trial, have consistently held the moral high ground on the issue of civil liberties in recent years. David Davis's decision to resign as Shadow Home Secretary and force a by-election on the issue of civil liberties seems, to me, a rare example of a senior political figure placing their convictions above their careers. Robin Cook did it over the war in 2003, Clare Short tried to do it, flip flopped, then eventually did it when no one really cared anymore. As much as I dislike Davis and his policies on almost every other count, I do have to admit he has taken a very brave stand on civil liberties and he should be applauded. Almost makes me wonder if the next Tory government might actually be slightly less bad than New Labour after all....
Sshh, heresy! Actually I think just about any party besides the Christian one, the UKIP or the BNP would be better than Labour.. Greens would be ideal, but realistically ain't gonna happen yet. LibDems FTW though, they opposed the war, ID cards etc. without being conservative arseholes.
I was thinking that. I'm staunchly against tories in any form (unless I'm sucking up to our local MP in a letter), but I was watching him on the news wondering how he's a Tory in the first place.
Oh because he's a right-wing bastard, but some right-wing bastards happen to be libertarians, which makes them terrible on economic policy and welfare issues, but can make them occassionally quite good on civil liberties, as is the case with Davis....
ive said this before, but we did a mock election in our school a few years back. To see who would be the future of britain (they did it in schools across england if i remember correctly). I voted Green. It was in the drama block actually, with a view of the greenery outside xD twas before they did the whole place up, and it was in summer. It was very sunny. Lib Dems won though. They were the most popular in the school, of course it was obvious with all their propoganda posters and whatnot. I wouldnt be surprised if they won.
this has nothing to do with convictions at all and is everything about a man and his ego what on earth should a member of the opposition resign a post that doesn't even really exist, shadow secretary is a purely party politics issue and sfa to do with government, all he is doing is making tax payers pay for him to strut about giving the big I am, convictions my arse, resign and begone but no he's not that disgruntled is he. opposition resigning because they dont like the government, bloody ridiculous
Well he has made people talk about the issue, and I certainly agree with him on his stance on civil liberties. I just hope that arsehole Kelvin McKenzie doesn't win his seat, or I might resign my citizenship.
Didn't McKenzie get about a couple of hundred votes last time he stood? He'll never take the seat even if the majority of Davis's constituency is against his stance on civil liberties....
David Davis is in favour of capital punishment, which hardly makes him a libertarian in my book. As it happens, his hero Enoch Powell argued forcefully and consistently against the death penalty. What I can't quite understand is, don't the arguments against 42 days detention without charge apply just as much to 28 days? People who argue in favour of the status quo, haven't they already sold the pass? Having said all that, I can't deny a sneaking admiration for Mr Davis for waving two fingers at the lot of them (including his namby-pamby party leadership).
