For the first time David Davis has publicly admitted what most of his former front bench colleagues believe – that he has probably thrown away his career.
He quit as shadow Home Secretary in June to force a by-election in his Haltemprice and Howden constituency in protest over proposals to allow terrorist suspects to be locked up for 42 days without charge.
On the face of it, he has been vindicated. Mr Davis won the contest with ease and the detention plans have been abandoned by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. And yet he has acknowledged: "This could have been a mistake."
He goes on: "You might calculate that somehow or other 42 days would have died anyway or, alternatively I could have done a better job of defeating them if I was home secretary instead of shadow home secretary which, presumably, would have happened in due course but again I did a calculation."
Precisely. Mr Davis helped to keep the focus on 42 days (although coverage of the by-election was muted because of the absence of either Labour or Liberal Democrat candidates), but the plans were in trouble already.
They had only scraped though the Commons following frantic horse-trading between Government whips and the Democratic Unionists and were on course to be torn apart by the Lords.
They were duly defeated by 191 votes in the Upper House last month, leaving ministers with little option but to retreat (with partial cover provided by the overwhelming focus on the banking meltdown at the time).
Ms Smith would have backed off at that point regardless of whether or not the voters of Haltemprice and Howden had been forced to the polls three months earlier.
Now Mr Davis languishes on the backbenches with little obvious chance of influencing the debate on other pressing civil liberties issues, such as the imminent introduction of ID cards and the continuing drift towards a surveillance society. His chances of becoming Home Secretary in a Cameron administration – with his hands on policy levers – look equally faint.
Mr Davis admits David Cameron opposed his decision to quit, so he can be under little illusion that he will be returning to the political front-line in the near future.
That is a shame as he is one of the Tories' few political big beasts – he is an effective Commons performer with real experience of Government.
He also has an air of street credibility that contrasts with the likes of David Cameron, George Osborne and Oliver Letwin.
Mr Davis insists: "Being a backbencher - if you know how to use it - is both powerful and free." It will be interesting to see how he intends to disprove his detractors and maintain his political presence.
Yes he did. It was utter selfish madness. We are now left with few credible Tories with any position of strength or respect(Osborne). He started the cracks appearing in the Tory party who had begun to appear almost capable. To re-appoint him would just demonstrate the lack of strength in depth the Tory party has. This being a direct result of their clone selection policy for MP's
Posted by: rod evans | Monday, 17 November 2008 at 09:51 PM
David Davis did the right thing whether it was bad for his career or not. Most actions of this nature are opportunistic - his was not and he was fundamentally right so if what he did was a mistake then it was only from a self interest point of view. If he never becomes PM at least he can lie on his death bed having been true to himself. How many politicians can do that?
Posted by: les w | Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 12:08 AM
@rod - you are right, I have been worrying that for years. Labour breed heavy-hitters in opposition; the Tories need to tide themselves over with those with experience of government to make a credible bid to return to power. They have never got very far promoting younger men beyond their competencies because they don't really know how to oppose, or have the real stamina for prolonged opposition.
In my mind the best leader was Howard - he had a tough job against Blair, but could just be what the Tories need now to wreck Brown's plan for a fourth term. People desperately need good governance, not empty slogans, which is why Cameron got worked over so comprehensively this afternoon by Gordon Brown. He was OK when the weather was fair, but the biggest mark of how successful Labour actually are at putting their case across (read "spin" or "propaganda" if you like) is my father. His company may or may not go bust due to putting more into the housing market rather than civil construction while the boom was at its peak. He is a senior manager whose job and pension are currently balanced on the knife-edge of the recession.
And he is going to vote Labour at the next election.
Posted by: Louise | Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 01:33 AM
Surely the government horse trading over the vote on 11 June 2008 was with the Ulster Democratic Unionists. Liberal Democrats have always been against 42 days hence the decision not to stand in the by-election.
Posted by: Sue K | Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 07:25 AM
sue, you are absolutely right. it was a slip of the keyboard that i have now corrected.
Posted by: nigel morris | Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 10:23 AM
He has at least caught the emotional mood of many by representing individual freedom vs. the growing and all-consuming State. It now remains to be seen if he can follow this up with a more coherent communication of his political philosophy (at least, appear to have one) and develop a plan for, say, the deconstruction of the State.
Assuming he will remain on the back benches may be a mistake. Cameron's future is by no means guaranteed.
Posted by: daoud | Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 10:37 AM
Davis did the right thing and I don't believe that it will preclude him from high office in a future Tory cabinet (shadow or otherwise).
I do believe that the Tories might live to regret the day that they shunned Davis in favour of Cameron.
Posted by: Keith Lonsdale | Wednesday, 19 November 2008 at 07:20 PM