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David Davis (British politician)
Encyclopedia
David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party
politician who is the Member of Parliament
(MP) for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. Davis was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1997 New Year Honours List, having previously been Minister of State at the Foreign Office from July 1994 to April 1997.
Davis was raised on a council estate in South London
. After a grammar school education, he went on to gain a Master's degree in business at the age of 25, and went into a career with Tate & Lyle
.
Entering Parliament in 1987 at the age of 38 for the Boothferry
constituency, in his subsequent political career he held the positions of Conservative party chairman
and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
. Between 2003 and 2008 he was the Shadow Home Secretary
in the shadow cabinet, under both Michael Howard
and David Cameron
. Davis had previously been a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2001
and 2005
, coming fourth and then second.
On 12 June 2008, in a surprise and controversial move, Davis announced his intention to resign as an MP, and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary. This was in order to force a by-election
in his seat, for which he intended to seek re-election by mounting a specific campaign designed to provoke wider public debate about the erosion of civil liberties in the United Kingdom
. Following his formal resignation as an MP
on 18 June 2008, he officially became the Conservative candidate in the resulting by-election
and won it on 10 July 2008.
on 23 December 1948, Davis was initially brought up by his grandparents there. His grandfather Walter Harrison was the son of a wealthy trawlerman
and was disinherited after joining the Communist Party
; he led a hunger march to London shortly after the more famous Jarrow March
, which did not allow Communists to participate. His father, whom he met once after his mother's death, is Welsh. When his mother married a Polish-Jewish printworker, Ronald Davis, he moved to London. They lived initially in a flat in a "slum" in Wandsworth
before moving to a council estate in Tooting
, London.
On leaving Bec Grammar School in Tooting, his A Level results were not good enough to secure a university place. Davis worked as an insurance clerk and became a member of the Territorial Army's 21 SAS
Regiment in order to earn the money to retake his examinations. On doing so he won a place at the University of Warwick
(BSc Joint Hons
Molecular Science/Computer Science 1968–71). Whilst at Warwick, he was one of the founding members of the student radio station, University Radio Warwick
. He went straight on from there to London Business School
, where he got a Master's Degree in Business (1971–73), and, later, Harvard University
(Advanced Management Program 1984–85).
Davis worked for Tate & Lyle
for 17 years, rising to become a senior executive, including restructuring its troubled Canadian subsidiary, Redpath Sugar
. He wrote about his business experience in the 1988 book How to Turn Round a Company.
He met his wife, Doreen, at Warwick. They have three children.
as the MP for Boothferry
which, in 1997, became the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. He was a government whip
when parliament voted on the Maastricht Treaty
in 1992, angering many of the Maastricht rebels
on his own right-wing of the party. Davis's progression through the Conservative ranks eventually led to him becoming a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(1994–1997).
In 1999 Davis presented the Parliamentary Control of the Executive Bill to the House of Commons, in which he proposed to transfer ministerial exercise of the Royal Prerogative
to the Commons in the following areas: the signing of treaties, the diplomatic recognition of foreign governments; European Union legislation; the appointment of ministers, peers and ambassadors; the establishment of Royal Commissions; the proclamation of Orders in Council unless subject to resolutions of the Commons; the exercise of the powers of the executive not made by statute; the declarations of states of emergency; the dissolution of Parliament
.
In the role of Shadow Home Secretary, he successfully gained the 'scalp' of the then Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes
, who was forced to resign in the wake of allegations that checks on Eastern European migrants had been waived, and for misleading the House of Commons. Davis was praised for his role in holding her to account at that time. He also revealed his personal support for capital punishment.
More recently Davis has turned the Conservatives away from the Labour Party's plan to reintroduce identity cards citing spiralling costs and libertarian
issues. He turned initial Conservative support into one of concern and abstention, making the final change to one of opposition much easier. Davis believed that once the true cost and unreliability of the ID card scheme is explained to the general public, they would turn against it.
He expressed support for the restoration of the death penalty as recently as November 2003. He is highly sceptical of the political expansion of the European Union, voted against the repeal of Section 28
— a law banning promotion of homosexual relationships in schools — and voted against equalising the age of homosexual consent. However, he has consistently attracted support on a personal level from all sections of the party. Thus, when the gay Conservative MP Michael Brown
was pictured on holiday with a 20-year-old man in 1994 (when the age of consent was still 21), Davis drove to Brown's home to offer his help.
At the 2005 General Election
, he was targeted by the Liberal Democrats
as part of their "decapitation plan", an attempt to undermine the Conservatives in Parliament by defeating their leading members. The targeting failed as Davis trebled his majority to over 5,000 votes (5,116, up from 1,903), his share of the votes increasing by 4.3%.
Davis stated, when asked how he sees the Conservative Friends of Israel's
role in promoting Conservatism and helping the Conservative Party win the next election, "CFI should continue to have a significant role in policy development both in foreign policy but also in domestic policies."
, David Davis was Shadow Secretary of State for Home Affairs. His Campaign Manager in the leadership contest was Conservative MP and Davis's deputy as Shadow Minister of State for Home Affairs, Andrew Mitchell
(who in 2010 became Secretary of State for International Development
in Prime Minister David Cameron
's Cabinet).
Davis was initially the front runner in the contest, but after a poorly received speech at that year's Conservative Party Conference his campaign was seen to lose momentum. However, referring to a Conference speech by the party's former leader, Campaign Manager Andrew Mitchell said: "William Hague made a great speech which many people will judge to be better than all the other leadership candidates put together. What that tells you is that being absolutely brilliant at being able to make a speech at conference is not the be-all-and-end-all of leadership. There are other things as well."
In the first ballot of Conservative MPs on 18 October 2005, Davis came top with 62 votes. As this was less than the number of his declared supporters, it became clear that the Davis bid was losing momentum. The elimination of former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke
left the bookmakers' favourite, David Cameron
, without a rival on the centre of the party. In the second ballot, held two days later on 20 October 2005, Cameron polled 90 votes, Davis 57 votes and Liam Fox
was eliminated with 51 votes so Davis went through to the next stage with David Cameron.
In spite of a strong performance in a BBC Question Time
head-to-head debate in the final stage of the leadership contest, Davis could not match his rival's general popularity. Conservative party members voted to elect Cameron the new Conservative leader, Davis losing by a margin of 64,398 votes to 134,446 votes. Cameron chose to re-appoint his rival as Shadow Home Secretary following his victory.
, in order to force a by-election, and cause a wider debate on the single issue of what he believed to be the erosion of civil liberties
. He stood as the Conservative Party candidate for his current seat in the subsequent by-election
. The announcement came a day after the narrow passing of a parliamentary vote on the Counter-Terrorism Bill
, which would extend the limit on the period of detention of terror suspects without charge in England and Wales, from 28 to 42 days.
He won re-election with 72% of the vote, breaking several voting records in the UK. As is common at by-elections, voter turnout declined significantly from the previous general election to 34%.
As a backbench MP, Davis has continued campaigning for civil liberties. He participated in the Convention on Modern Liberty, where he gave the keynote speech on the convention's final day. He also spoke at the 2009 Guardian Hay Festival, where he criticised Labour's "illusory pursuit of an unobtainable security", and was well-received by an overwhelmingly non-Conservative audience. On 15 June 2009, Davis gave the 2009 Magna Carta Lecture at Royal Holloway, University of London
, in association with the Magna Carta Trust.
Davis has also supported civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch
and in January 2010 he spoke with Tony Benn
at the official launch.
to leave the country (even though the government had evidence against Ahmed, upon which Ahmed was later convicted for terrorism) to Pakistan, where it is said the Inter-Services Intelligence
was given the go ahead by the British intelligence agencies to torture Ahmed. Davis further accused the government of trying to gag Ahmed, stopping him coming forward with his accusations, after he had been imprisoned back in the UK.
He said, there was "an alleged request to drop his allegations of torture: if he did that, they could get his sentence cut and possibly give him some money. If this request to drop the torture case is true, it is frankly monstrous. It would at the very least be a criminal misuse of the powers and funds under the Government's Contest strategy, and at worst a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice."
, stating that "the planet appears to have been cooling, not warming, in the last decade."
and Iain Duncan Smith
into his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition cabinet. However, Davis refused and remained a critic of the government on its stance on tuition fees, child benefit, capital gains tax
, and penal reform. Nonetheless, he praised Nick Clegg on Question Time
, for his determination.
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician who is the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. Davis was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1997 New Year Honours List, having previously been Minister of State at the Foreign Office from July 1994 to April 1997.
Davis was raised on a council estate in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
. After a grammar school education, he went on to gain a Master's degree in business at the age of 25, and went into a career with Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle plc is a British-based multinational agribusiness. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index as of 20 June 2011...
.
Entering Parliament in 1987 at the age of 38 for the Boothferry
Boothferry (UK Parliament constituency)
Boothferry was a constituency in Humberside which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1983 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election.-History:...
constituency, in his subsequent political career he held the positions of Conservative party chairman
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
. Between 2003 and 2008 he was the Shadow Home Secretary
Shadow Home Secretary
In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary is the person within the shadow cabinet who 'shadows' the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government policy on home affairs including policing, national security, immigration, the criminal justice system, the prison service, and...
in the shadow cabinet, under both Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
and David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
. Davis had previously been a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2001
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2001
The 2001 Conservative leadership election was held after the United Kingdom Conservative Party failed to make inroads into the Labour government's lead in the 2001 general election. Party leader William Hague resigned, and a leadership contest was called under new rules Hague had introduced...
and 2005
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005
The 2005 Conservative leadership election was called by party leader Michael Howard on 6 May 2005, when he announced that he would be stepping down as leader in the near future. However, he stated that he would not depart until a review of the rules for the leadership election had been conducted,...
, coming fourth and then second.
On 12 June 2008, in a surprise and controversial move, Davis announced his intention to resign as an MP, and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary. This was in order to force a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in his seat, for which he intended to seek re-election by mounting a specific campaign designed to provoke wider public debate about the erosion of civil liberties in the United Kingdom
Civil liberties in the United Kingdom
Civil liberties in the United Kingdom have a long and formative history. This is usually considered to have begun with the English legal charter the Magna Carta of 1215, following its predecessor the English Charter of Liberties, a landmark document in English legal history...
. Following his formal resignation as an MP
Resignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
on 18 June 2008, he officially became the Conservative candidate in the resulting by-election
Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008
The 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election was a by-election held in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008 to elect a new Member of Parliament for constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
and won it on 10 July 2008.
Early life
Born to a single mother, Betty Brown, in YorkYork
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
on 23 December 1948, Davis was initially brought up by his grandparents there. His grandfather Walter Harrison was the son of a wealthy trawlerman
Trawlerman
Trawlerman can refer to:* Trawlerman, a sea-fisherman who works on a fishing trawler* Trawlermen, a series which ran from 2006 to 2009 on BBC TV, about the lives of some North Sea trawlermen...
and was disinherited after joining the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
; he led a hunger march to London shortly after the more famous Jarrow March
Jarrow March
The Jarrow March , was an October 1936 protest march against unemployment and extreme poverty suffered in North East England. The 207 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London, a distance of almost , to lobby Parliament...
, which did not allow Communists to participate. His father, whom he met once after his mother's death, is Welsh. When his mother married a Polish-Jewish printworker, Ronald Davis, he moved to London. They lived initially in a flat in a "slum" in Wandsworth
Wandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
before moving to a council estate in Tooting
Tooting
Tooting is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, London.
On leaving Bec Grammar School in Tooting, his A Level results were not good enough to secure a university place. Davis worked as an insurance clerk and became a member of the Territorial Army's 21 SAS
Artists' Rifles
The Artists Rifles is a volunteer regiment of the British Army. Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regiment saw active service during the Boer Wars and World War I, earning a number of battle honours; however, it did not serve outside of Britain during World War II, as...
Regiment in order to earn the money to retake his examinations. On doing so he won a place at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
(BSc Joint Hons
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
Molecular Science/Computer Science 1968–71). Whilst at Warwick, he was one of the founding members of the student radio station, University Radio Warwick
Radio Warwick
Radio Warwick or RaW is the student radio station at the University of Warwick and winner of the 2000 and 2003 BBC Radio 1 Student Radio Association Best Station awards....
. He went straight on from there to London Business School
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
, where he got a Master's Degree in Business (1971–73), and, later, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(Advanced Management Program 1984–85).
Davis worked for Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle plc is a British-based multinational agribusiness. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index as of 20 June 2011...
for 17 years, rising to become a senior executive, including restructuring its troubled Canadian subsidiary, Redpath Sugar
Redpath Sugar
Redpath Sugar was an important company in the economic history of Canada.-History:Redpath Sugar was established as the Canada Sugar Refining Company in 1854 in Montreal, Quebec by Scots-Quebecer entrepreneur, John Redpath . Located on the bank of the Lachine Canal, the giant complex was the first...
. He wrote about his business experience in the 1988 book How to Turn Round a Company.
He met his wife, Doreen, at Warwick. They have three children.
Political career
Davis was first elected to Parliament in the 1987 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
as the MP for Boothferry
Boothferry (UK Parliament constituency)
Boothferry was a constituency in Humberside which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1983 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election.-History:...
which, in 1997, became the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. He was a government whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
when parliament voted on the Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...
in 1992, angering many of the Maastricht rebels
Maastricht Rebels
The Maastricht Rebels were British Members of Parliament belonging to the then governing Conservative Party who refused to support the government of John Major in a series of votes in the House of Commons on the issue of the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty in British law.The Maastrict...
on his own right-wing of the party. Davis's progression through the Conservative ranks eventually led to him becoming a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
(1994–1997).
In 1999 Davis presented the Parliamentary Control of the Executive Bill to the House of Commons, in which he proposed to transfer ministerial exercise of the Royal Prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
to the Commons in the following areas: the signing of treaties, the diplomatic recognition of foreign governments; European Union legislation; the appointment of ministers, peers and ambassadors; the establishment of Royal Commissions; the proclamation of Orders in Council unless subject to resolutions of the Commons; the exercise of the powers of the executive not made by statute; the declarations of states of emergency; the dissolution of Parliament
Dissolution of parliament
In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time...
.
In the role of Shadow Home Secretary, he successfully gained the 'scalp' of the then Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes
Beverley Hughes
Beverley June Hughes, Baroness Hughes of Stretford is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston from 1997 to 2010. In 2004, she was appointed to the Privy Council...
, who was forced to resign in the wake of allegations that checks on Eastern European migrants had been waived, and for misleading the House of Commons. Davis was praised for his role in holding her to account at that time. He also revealed his personal support for capital punishment.
More recently Davis has turned the Conservatives away from the Labour Party's plan to reintroduce identity cards citing spiralling costs and libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
issues. He turned initial Conservative support into one of concern and abstention, making the final change to one of opposition much easier. Davis believed that once the true cost and unreliability of the ID card scheme is explained to the general public, they would turn against it.
He expressed support for the restoration of the death penalty as recently as November 2003. He is highly sceptical of the political expansion of the European Union, voted against the repeal of Section 28
Section 28
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...
— a law banning promotion of homosexual relationships in schools — and voted against equalising the age of homosexual consent. However, he has consistently attracted support on a personal level from all sections of the party. Thus, when the gay Conservative MP Michael Brown
Michael Brown (UK politician)
Michael Russell Brown is a British former Conservative Party politician and is now a newspaper and broadcast political journalist. He was a Member of Parliament from 1979 to 1997.-Biography:...
was pictured on holiday with a 20-year-old man in 1994 (when the age of consent was still 21), Davis drove to Brown's home to offer his help.
At the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, he was targeted by the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
as part of their "decapitation plan", an attempt to undermine the Conservatives in Parliament by defeating their leading members. The targeting failed as Davis trebled his majority to over 5,000 votes (5,116, up from 1,903), his share of the votes increasing by 4.3%.
Davis stated, when asked how he sees the Conservative Friends of Israel's
Conservative Friends of Israel
Conservative Friends of Israel, abbreviated to CFI, is a British parliamentary group affiliated to the Conservative Party and dedicated to strengthening business, cultural and political ties between the United Kingdom and Israel. CFI is an unincorporated associationIt was founded by the late...
role in promoting Conservatism and helping the Conservative Party win the next election, "CFI should continue to have a significant role in policy development both in foreign policy but also in domestic policies."
2005 leadership contest
At the time of the 2005 Conservative leadership contestConservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005
The 2005 Conservative leadership election was called by party leader Michael Howard on 6 May 2005, when he announced that he would be stepping down as leader in the near future. However, he stated that he would not depart until a review of the rules for the leadership election had been conducted,...
, David Davis was Shadow Secretary of State for Home Affairs. His Campaign Manager in the leadership contest was Conservative MP and Davis's deputy as Shadow Minister of State for Home Affairs, Andrew Mitchell
Andrew Mitchell
The Right Honourable Andrew John Bower Mitchell MP is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sutton Coldfield...
(who in 2010 became Secretary of State for International Development
Secretary of State for International Development
In the United Kingdom, the Secretary of State for International Development is a Cabinet minister responsible for the Department for International Development and for promoting development overseas, particularly in the third world...
in Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
's Cabinet).
Davis was initially the front runner in the contest, but after a poorly received speech at that year's Conservative Party Conference his campaign was seen to lose momentum. However, referring to a Conference speech by the party's former leader, Campaign Manager Andrew Mitchell said: "William Hague made a great speech which many people will judge to be better than all the other leadership candidates put together. What that tells you is that being absolutely brilliant at being able to make a speech at conference is not the be-all-and-end-all of leadership. There are other things as well."
In the first ballot of Conservative MPs on 18 October 2005, Davis came top with 62 votes. As this was less than the number of his declared supporters, it became clear that the Davis bid was losing momentum. The elimination of former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
left the bookmakers' favourite, David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, without a rival on the centre of the party. In the second ballot, held two days later on 20 October 2005, Cameron polled 90 votes, Davis 57 votes and Liam Fox
Liam Fox
Liam Fox MP is a British Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for North Somerset, and former Secretary of State for Defence....
was eliminated with 51 votes so Davis went through to the next stage with David Cameron.
In spite of a strong performance in a BBC Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
head-to-head debate in the final stage of the leadership contest, Davis could not match his rival's general popularity. Conservative party members voted to elect Cameron the new Conservative leader, Davis losing by a margin of 64,398 votes to 134,446 votes. Cameron chose to re-appoint his rival as Shadow Home Secretary following his victory.
Civil liberties
On 12 June 2008, Davis resigned from the Shadow Cabinet and announced his resignation as an MPResignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
, in order to force a by-election, and cause a wider debate on the single issue of what he believed to be the erosion of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
. He stood as the Conservative Party candidate for his current seat in the subsequent by-election
Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008
The 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election was a by-election held in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008 to elect a new Member of Parliament for constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
. The announcement came a day after the narrow passing of a parliamentary vote on the Counter-Terrorism Bill
Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008
The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which increased police powers for the stated purpose of countering terrorism...
, which would extend the limit on the period of detention of terror suspects without charge in England and Wales, from 28 to 42 days.
He won re-election with 72% of the vote, breaking several voting records in the UK. As is common at by-elections, voter turnout declined significantly from the previous general election to 34%.
As a backbench MP, Davis has continued campaigning for civil liberties. He participated in the Convention on Modern Liberty, where he gave the keynote speech on the convention's final day. He also spoke at the 2009 Guardian Hay Festival, where he criticised Labour's "illusory pursuit of an unobtainable security", and was well-received by an overwhelmingly non-Conservative audience. On 15 June 2009, Davis gave the 2009 Magna Carta Lecture at Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
, in association with the Magna Carta Trust.
Davis has also supported civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch
Big Brother Watch
Big Brother Watch is a libertarian British pressure group founded in 2009 to "fight injustice and campaigns to protect our civil liberties and personal freedoms"...
and in January 2010 he spoke with Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
at the official launch.
Torture
During a House of Commons debate on 7 July 2009, Davis accused the UK government of outsourcing torture, by allowing Rangzieb AhmedRangzieb Ahmed
Rangzieb Ahmed is a British Citizen who was allegedly the highest ranking Al-Qaeda operative in the United Kingdom. Ahmed, who was a key link between British recruits and al-Qaeda leaders, was responsible for setting up a terrorist cell in Manchester, and had contacts with one of the terrorists...
to leave the country (even though the government had evidence against Ahmed, upon which Ahmed was later convicted for terrorism) to Pakistan, where it is said the Inter-Services Intelligence
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
was given the go ahead by the British intelligence agencies to torture Ahmed. Davis further accused the government of trying to gag Ahmed, stopping him coming forward with his accusations, after he had been imprisoned back in the UK.
He said, there was "an alleged request to drop his allegations of torture: if he did that, they could get his sentence cut and possibly give him some money. If this request to drop the torture case is true, it is frankly monstrous. It would at the very least be a criminal misuse of the powers and funds under the Government's Contest strategy, and at worst a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice."
Death Penalty
In November 2003, shortly after being appointed Shadow Home Secretary by Michael Howard, Davis sparked controversy by calling for a return of the death penalty for the most serious cases of murder.Climate change
Davis is a climate change scepticClimate change denial
Climate change denial is a term used to describe organized attempts to downplay, deny or dismiss the scientific consensus on the extent of global warming, its significance, and its connection to human behavior, especially for commercial or ideological reasons...
, stating that "the planet appears to have been cooling, not warming, in the last decade."
Coalition government
In May 2010, it was revealed that David Cameron wanted to invite Davis and other right-wingers such as Michael HowardMichael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
and Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
into his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition cabinet. However, Davis refused and remained a critic of the government on its stance on tuition fees, child benefit, capital gains tax
Capital gains tax
A capital gains tax is a tax charged on capital gains, the profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a lower price. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property...
, and penal reform. Nonetheless, he praised Nick Clegg on Question Time
Question Time
Question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers , which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances...
, for his determination.
External links
- David Davis official website
- David Davis MP official Conservative Party profile
- Open Rights Group – David Davis MP
- BBC News – Profile: David Davis 17 October 2002
- BBC News – Profile: David Davis 23 July 2002
- David Davis for Freedom Official Website of 2008 Campaign for British Civil Liberties and Freedom.
- Full text of 2005 conference speech