David Davis' dramatic resignation yesterday - in protest at government plans to hold terror suspects for 42 days without charge - looks set to backfire.



The ex-shadow home secretary said he had to take a stand against 'the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government'.

Mr Davis, who has forced a by-election in his seat, added: 'This cannot go on. It must be stopped.'

But his move looked set to backfire last night as rival parties said they would not enter a candidate to fight him. He would be automatically re-elected if no one competes
Former home secretary David Blunkett said it was 'childish and immature', adding: 'It is not worthy of a major political party to engage in such theatre'.

The final straw for Mr Davis was seeing the 42-day law scrape through with just nine votes on Wednesday.

He accused Gordon Brown of 'buying' the loyalty of the nine crucial Democratic Ulster Unionist MPs who rescued the government from an embarrassing defeat.

It was only after the Commons vote that Mr Cameron was made aware of his shadow minister's plan.

The Conservative leader is rumoured to be unhappy at the resignation.

Although he called his old rival brave and courageous, Mr Cameron swiftly replaced him on the Conservative front bench with Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general.

As shadow home secretary, Mr Davis had pledged to repeal the terror detention plans and last night his replacement said it continued to be Tory policy.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith used the resignation to pour scorn on the opposition. She said: 'Faced with a crucial decision on the safety and protection of the British public, the Conservatives have collapsed into total disarray on their first big test.'

Other senior Labour figures hinted they did not want to field a contender for Mr Davis's Yorkshire seat of Haltemprice and Howden.

Denis MacShane added he hoped there would be no Labour candidate, 'so he will run against UKIP, the BNP and all the other nutters in the world'.

Former Sun Editor Kelvin McKenzie will stand against David Davis with Murdoch funding. He told the BBC: "I have been associated with The Sun for 30 years. The Sun is very, very hostile to David Davis because of his 28 day stance and The Sun has always been very up for 42 days and perhaps even 420 days."

Haha! I'd like to see the Sun make that argument. This would be a useful stance for Davis if that's the only opposition. Since when did Sun readers learn how to vote anyway?

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