What follows is a press release from the Libertarian Alliance. I am wholly in agreement with it.

David Davis MP: Libertarian Alliance Gives "Unconditional Support"

The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties
policy institute, today gives its unconditional support to David Davis,
The Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, who has resigned to fight a
by-election on the issue of the 42-day detention law. Though much more
radical than he is on issues of civil liberty, the Libertarian Alliance
hails Mr Davis as a brave and decent man.

Note: On the 11th June 2008, the House of Commons approved a clause in
the Counter-Terrorism Bill to allow detention without charge for up to 42
days, or six weeks. 36 Labour MPs voted against the Government. The
measure passed only because of lavish bribery to other potential rebels
and to the Irish Members. The following day, David Davis announced he
would resign his seat and fight the resulting by-election on the single
issue of the erosion of civil liberties during the past decade of Labour
rule. This would provide some British people at least with a vote on the
increasingly terrible actions of this Government.

Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Sean Gabb, says:


"The Libertarian Alliance is a non-party organisation. That is, we find
much to oppose in all the main political parties. On this occasion,
however, we give our unconditional support to Mr Davis as an individual
candidate in his fight for our liberties.

"We have been repeatedly told that suspects will only be detained for six
weeks without trial in the gravest cases affecting national security.
This is a lie. We were promised that the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Act 2000 would only be used in cases of national security.
Instead, it is used by just about every local authority in the country to
spy on ordinary people. The effect - and almost certainly the purpose -
of this law will be to create a new weapon of administrative detention.
It may be used against the occasional terrorist suspect. Much more often,
though, dissidents and other 'trouble-makers' will be told to shut up or
face arrest on suspicion of terrorist offences. They will be held without
charge for six weeks, then released without charge. In the meantime, they
will have lost their jobs and reputations; their lives will be in ruins.
All this - and without the shadow of due process.

"Anyone who believes such wickedness is beyond the imagination of our
rulers is either ignorant of human nature in general or blind to what
this Labour Government has done since 1997.

"In deciding to fight a by-election on this issue, and the general issue
of the Labour police state, David Davis has shown himself to be a brave
and decent man. His fight is our fight. Regardless of normal party
affiliation, it is the fight of everyone who believes in liberal democracy.

"We note that some people are already crying up Mr Davis as a 'radical
libertarian', - as if these words falsified what he was saying. We find
this bizarre. All he is demanding in essence is a return to the legal
situation of the early 1990s. It is a sign of how illiberal the political
consensus has become in this country that he could possibly be called
'extreme'.

"We are the extremists on the civil liberties spectrum. We agree with Mr
Davis in calling for repeal of all 'hate crime' censorship laws and the
restoration of due process. But we go much further. We also call for
repeal the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which turns every professional
adviser in the country into a police spy. We call for an end to the 'war
on drugs', which is fuelling organised crime. We call for the repeal
repeal of the Firearms Acts, which leave ordinary people defenceless
against violent criminals. we call for repeal of the race relations laws,
which do more than anything else to restrict freedom of speech and
association.

"Where civil liberties are concerned, Mr Davis is a moderate. We say this
not to criticise him, but to expose the fatuity of his critics.

"Again, we wish him well. We call on the Liberal Democrat and UK
Independence Parties not to field candidates against him in the
by-election, and for the contest to be one between light and darkness - a
contest in which whatever Labour candidate dares stand in defence of his
Government's record will lose his deposit and pass into the oblivion that
Gordon Brown himself deserves."
The Libertarian Alliance believes:

That no one should be deprived of life, liberty or property without due
process of law: 
That due process should include no detention without charge after 48
hours, together with all other Common Law protections abolished or eroded
since around 1988