Comments on: David Davis: a bounder and a braggart

By: Chris Whiteside

Chris Whiteside — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:16:44 +0000

Now that the Guardian has admitted that David Davis never said anything of the sort, and has apologised, I trust all the people who posted rude comments about DD on this thread will follow Steven Tall’s honourable example and will also apologise.

By: Cheltenham Robin

Cheltenham Robin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:15:07 +0000

I said previously on this forum that Nick Clegg should have wangled a joint press conference out of Davis on the subject of 42 days in return for not standing.

The bloke’s a Tory, they are still the “nasty” party and will never change.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:13:37 +0000

Davis has praised the Lib Dems for standing throughout, and criticised Labour for not standing. It is clear that this quote is inaccurate.

By: rob

rob — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:47:59 +0000

What did we expect? A Tory to give us good press? So much for the wonderfully ‘principled’ and ‘honourable’ stance we agreed to. How stupid we now look.

By: Sesenco

Sesenco — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:15:27 +0000

While Davis bangs on about the threat of 42 days’ executive detention for a handful of terrorist suspects, far more serious assaults on our liberties are perpetrated with barely a murmur of dissent.

One of our most precious liberties is surely freedom of movement – the right to go where we like when we like. Something we lacked under the feudal system, or in Brezhnev’s Soviet Union, but now taken for granted.

So why did Liberal Democrats sit back in silence while the state gave the Police the power to impose marshal law on under 16s at will?

Look at this story in today’s Grauniad and catch a glimpse of things to come:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/09/ukcrime.children

Laurence Boyce may sneer and accuse me of “libertarian paranoia”, but the fact is we already do live in a police state and the situation is getting worse by the day.

Ah, young people don’t deserve rights, authoritarian conservatives will tell us; and even if they do, they don’t vote, and a lot of people who do vote hate them, so there is nothing to be gained by defending their liberties.

Well, I have news for those who cling to such complacency. Marshal law for under 16s presages marshal law for adults (or at least adults who don’t belong to the elite). And we have already had it – in the countryside, during the so-called foot and mouth “crisis”; and this was meekly acquiesced in by millions.

If the Lib Dem leadership was serious about civil liberties, it would be telling the young people of Redruth to get out into the streets and parks after 9.00pm and defy the fascists. It seems to me that mass civil disobedience is the only way to stop this madness.

By: asquith

asquith — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:52:35 +0000

I am still an admirer & supporter of Davis, & it will take more than this to make me waver.

My views are straightforward. It is about time someone stood up to the relentless erosion of our liberties, on totally fatuopus grounds, by Labour.

It is, in fact, better for such an assault to come from the right. It is known that we support civil liberties, now Joe Average is aware that there is a coalition for freedom. He has partially undermined his own cause in such a way, but he should, & probably will, gather together liberal & left-wing libertarians. Initiatives such as “Liberal Conspiracy”, & the interface between various pro-freedom blogs, show how this can be done.

It goes without saying that I oppose Davis’ views on Section 28, the death penalty, & various elements of criminal law. But he is not proposing to bring those in, is he? He is striking a blow for freedom, & the likes of Johann Hari sneering at him is not going to hold back my feelings on the matter.

Let us all hammer the nails into the coffin of the Murdoch press forever.

By: Martin Land

Martin Land — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:11:03 +0000

Thanks to a series of clearly thought out strategic decisions, we are fighting to win in Glasgow East, but not Haltemprice and Howden.

Right.

By: Julian H

Julian H — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:44:14 +0000

Well said.

By: David Boothroyd

David Boothroyd — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:39:26 +0000

More fool the Liberal Democrats for falling for David Davis’ plea for no opposition. A byelection in a particular seat is never a referendum on a single issue. It tells you a great deal about David Davis that he was willing to ‘put his career on the line’ by running for re-election, but made sure his closest opponents wouldn’t run before he did it.

By: James Graham

James Graham — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:36:08 +0000

Agreed. Monumental act of bad faith.

By: John

John — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:16:27 +0000

I DEFINITELY think an apology is needed. That is completely out of order.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:25:42 +0000

And if Davis didn’t say that, maybe he should ask an apology from the Guardian?

By: bishop Hill

bishop Hill — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:12:34 +0000

Can’t say fairer than that.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:09:35 +0000

Can we ask his campaign press office if he said it and if so, Clegg should demand an apology

By: bishop Hill

bishop Hill — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:06:06 +0000

Yes, if he said it, it’s pretty poor. Did he really say it though? The Guardian journalist also has a downloadable audio report from H&H, which contains the first part of his quote (about not scoring another Crewe & Nantwich) but not the “funking it” bit.

By: Julian H

Julian H — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:02:56 +0000

So from this by-election we have lost local support in what could have been a target seat and had virtually no press coverage following the original announcement.

Now Davis is getting away with putting us in the same camp as Labour and tomorrow morning the front pages will be occupied by his face (associated with the anti-42-day cause) and have no mention of us.

All because we considered it reasonable for an opposition MP to pretend that a comfortable by-election can somehow be a single-issue referendum.

Wonderful. Vive la revolution.