He did....
- Forever tether his name on the right side of an important argument. Whatever his career now holds Davis will always be associated with '42 days' / civil liberties issues and for those who broadly support his position on those things he's a passionate and formidable advocate.
- Gave the 42 days debate *some* added profile and made sure the Government's appalling behaviour in getting the bill passed got the attention it deserved.
- Demonstrated some of the flaws in both mainstream journalists / Westminster 'insiders' and bloggers. The 'insiders' initial line in the first few days was - 'he's mad, vain', 'an idiot', 'mid-life crisis etc'. By the weekend of his resignation bloggers and some commentators were gloating about how off this assessment was - 'there was public support', 'people admire principle', 'maybe he's started something big' etc. Then by day 7 the story was dead. Both sides on that debate got it wrong and as ever the truth lay somewhere in the murky middle.
- Demonstrated that civil liberties issues are cross-party concerns and pulled together a reasonably impressive list of backers (Benn, Geldoff etc.) It would have been easy for people who supported his position to have dismissed the by-election, bought the 'stunt' line from Labour and stayed away - that they didn't is testament to Davis and his campaign.
He didn't...
- Do his party or his leader any favours. He didn't inflict any particular damage either but he was one of, if not the most impressive members of the front bench team so his absence will be felt. The one question he always struggled to answer was why doing this enabled him to be a more effective opponent on 42 days than remaining Shadow Home Secretary and then one day, presumably, the real thing. He struggled because it didn't.
- Brought about any real shift in public opinion. This from his acceptance speech:
"Four weeks ago as Gordon Brown stooped into the gutter to rig the vote on 42
The emphasis is mine - Ministers 'claimed' that level of support but nobody took it seriously, least of all Davis himself who pointed out the loaded questions and the flawed polls. For Davis to use a figure he previously questioned to exaggerate the impact he's had is a bit low. If he really believes that 33% shift relates to many millions who saw his resignation, rushed to the bookshop for their copy of Mill's 'On Liberty' and then immersed themselves in opposition to the government then he's as vain and deluded as some of his detractors claim.
days, Ministers crowed that 69% of people supported 42 days.
Today just 36% support it."
6 Comments:
If you really believe he really believes that 33% shift relates to many millions who saw his resignation, rushed to the bookshop for their copy of Mill's 'On Liberty' and then immersed themselves in opposition to the government then you're deluded.
I don't hoover - the fact that he's suggesting he does dents his credibility, not mine.
Perhaps the good thing that comes from this is that the public-at-large will now accept the 36% figure rather than the 69% which was the only figure being put about in the media beforehand.
Not only is it important to have accurate (as far as possible) information in the public domain anyway, this will also show just how little support there really is -- and has been all along -- for the Government's stance.
An important step in the right direction, surely?
Cassie
Good analysis of the episode but you neglect to mention that he has thrown away his realistic chance of doing anything about his supposed passion through losing his chasnce to become the next Tory Home Secretary in Cameron's government- yes, I now assume he'll win. Also, as Bob P. has argued, Davis has been far from a firm campaigner on some civil liberties issues having voted against them and is pro-death penalty. My view was his behaviour represented a diverting sideshow which achieved very little.
Fair analysis.
Thanks Bill & Andrew.
I take Bob P's point on this but think it's overdone. Politicians change their mind - Blair (and I think Brown) was for scrapping the deterrent and coming out of Europe when he first entered Parliament.
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