It's D-Day for Davis
It's D-Day for David Davis and his civil liberties
crusade.
Voters in the Haltemprice and Howden constituency go to the
polls today with their former MP hoping for a vindication of
his personal stand on freedom and liberty.
Although he is expected to win, the size of the turnout will
be a measure of how well his own argument has been
received.
In the last General Election three years ago, there was a
70.2 per cent turnout in the constituency.
Standing against him are a record 25 candidates, although
neither Labour or the Liberal Democrats are taking part in the
contest.
Instead, his opponents range from the deadly serious Green
Party to the somewhat more frivolous Church Of The Militant
Elvis Party.
Closing his campaign with an event in Willerby, Mr Davis was
joined by the unlikely combination of Liberty director Shami
Chakrabarti and Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews.
However, all three were upstaged by Rachel North, a survivor
of the 7/7 bombings in London, who spoke movingly about her own
experience and her belief that the Government was using
anti-terror legislation for political ends.
She also said the issues raised by Mr Davis transcended
party politics.
“I am not a Tory and I don't think I will ever line-up that
way, but if you do not stand up for something you believe in
you will fall for anything and that's why I support David on
this stand,” she said.
Ms North, who was on one of the bombed London Tube trains,
accused the Government of indulging in what she claimed was
“the politics of fear” by proposing the controversial 42-day
detention limit for terrorist suspects.
“The aim of the terrorist is not to kill hundreds or
thousands of people. The real aim is to unleash fear and when
that fear is unleashed the aim is to make you forget who you
are and what you stand for.
“When terrorists attack they try to divide us, make us lash
out in anger and fear. That way they can recruit more people
against us.”
She said her last memory from the bombing was of injured
passengers calmly helping each other immediately after the
blast, unaware in the darkness of each other's colour, creed or
sexuality.
“We were just humans in the dark helping each other. The
reality is that we are each other's best security. We are the
guardians of each other's liberties.”
Mrs Chakrabarti said this week's opposition to the 42-day
policy by leading members of the House of Lords was a powerful
vindication of what Mr Davis had been campaigning on.
“This is a pivotal moment in history and I would urge people
to go out in vote in numbers at the Haltemprice and Howden
by-election,” she said.
"390520015-10072008">The Mail's website will be updating with all the election news as it happens through the night, including the result and reaction.
"390520015-10072008">See tomorrow's Mail for full details, reaction and analysis.
23 Comments
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by Caleb, Cottingham
Thursday, July 10 2008, 7:32PM
“I don't think that this by-election is a pivotal moment in history as Shami Chakrabarti suggests. I remember that during the miners strike my job took me to a part of the country where there was a great deal of trouble between the police and miners, I was stopped and the police refused to let me complete my journey. This happened to hundreds of law abiding citizens during the strike, was Mr Davis worried about my civil rights then? I doubt it, if he did he certainly didn't make a song and dance about it, and as for being a pivotal moment, the price of fuel, food mortgages etc will soon put this to the back of our minds very soon. So do us all a favour Mr Davis get back to your nice comfortable life in Parliament and try not to interfere with ours too much.”
by Richard, Hull
Thursday, July 10 2008, 7:06PM
“wouldn't it be great to see davis loose”
by Caleb, Cottingham
Thursday, July 10 2008, 6:21PM
“I've just seen on teletext that the results of the by-election will not be announced from a temporary stage at Haltemprice sports centre in case the stage collapses under the weight of all the candidates. I would have thought that Mr Davis and his gigantic ego would have been enough.”
by suzette, britain
Thursday, July 10 2008, 4:37PM
“ian, brough what do you mean mate?”
by Colin 1, Hull
Thursday, July 10 2008, 3:29PM
“Your 100 to 1 statement cannot be supported. Undoubtedly there is global warming but to blame it on being man-made cannot be substantiated either. There is a contribution effect for sure, but, it appears to be negligible. The politicians ALL jumped on this, particularly the EU, bandwagon much too fast, have got themselves into the position where the other arguments are no longer considered. Some of the press are now beginning to query the political classes, a bit on the late side as its seen as 'a given'. If the EU supports and promotes anything it is, based on repeated experiences, likely to be taxation driven, curbing liberties, plain ineffective (wine/butter etc lakes/mountains still there) or just daft (straight cucumbers etc etc). It is always worth checking anything to do with the EU, check again and proceed with caution.”