Oh, thank God for that! For a minute there, I was close to experiencing the unprecedented sensation of respecting a Tory, and for his principles. That was weird, to say the least…

PS: Any chance of Rowan Williams coming out against 42 days on the grounds that even Jesus only had 40 days in the wilderness, with perhaps only Satan for company?

DD may well have an inconsistent record on these issues and I can see where you are coming from on this – particularly with the updates.

However, I’m reminded of an incident related to me by a former Exec. member of the old CP that I know.

Years back he was involved in organising an anti-aparthied rally/demo. All the usual Peoples Front of Judea/Judean Peoples front groups were there when this guy turns up, on his own, who explained he genuinlly felt aparthied was abohrrant – despite the fact that he was a Conservative supporter.

Well there was uproar. No way say the PFoJ/JPF groups. We ar’nt having a Tory on “our” march. At which point they had to be reminded as to the purpose of the event by my friend. If this guy felt so strongly about aparthied and other people attending were genuine in practicing, as compared to preaching, anti-aparthied principles, they should have no problem having this guy on the march.

The point being that the situation is what it is now. The by-election will go ahead. DD may well be the main actor in this drama but he is not in control of events. Currently, the Westminster village and their journo hacks are busy closing ranks and tut-tutting that someone has broken ranks. The issue is what it is not what they or someone else wants it to be.

And that issue is the wider one of civil liberties. The space which has opened up needs to be occupied – and quickly before the Westminster village and political class park their tanks on the lawn to frame the debate and issues their way.

The alternative is that Murdoch’s ego(who seems to be in favour of 420 rather than 42 days) wins the by-election at which point the argument and debate is also lost.

Like the anti-aparthied example above, we have too much to lose to let this ground be occupied and won by the authoritarians of all parties.

Regards.

Dave Hansell
Stocksbridge
Sheffield

Other people have pointed out that Davis has also (inadvertently) exposed the unspoken ethos of the professional political class: namely, this isn’t about the proles, or rights, or anything beyond being in government.

There are some very good reasons to support Davis in this, despite his various earlier pratfalls and inconsistencies.

Perhaps he should look over his shoulder more often.

[/would have said it even if Iain was a breeder]

[/applies equally to Cameron]

Tim Ireland’s latest blog post… David Davis

Surely as the former leadership campaign manager of the Rt Hon David Davis MP, Dale’s the political commentator in the best possible position to get a scoop? So why didn’t he? If even his ex-boss won’t bung him a bone, who in Westminster is?

Yep – challenging the mainstream media hard and fast here in blogland…

No doubts there about whose ego Kelvin will be representing.

You’re naive.

(sorry, couldn’t resist).

Jim Bliss’s latest blog post… Referendum Day

Here’s a list of 72 written questions he asked about the number of Christmas cards sent out by each government department.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/search/?s=section%3Awrans+christmas+speaker%3A10162+

It’s one step from there to Magna Carta.