A return for David Davis looks increasingly likely

TomTom

It will take a long time for the Cameroons to forget Davis’ bizarre resignation.

Poor deluded opportunists, they really cannot see the issue is one of Personal Liberty in a Kafkaesque Bureaucratic Nightmare....Davis can

Leo McKinstry

Absolutely right. And as Martin Bright noted in the New Statesman, it is unlikely that the police would have dared go after the TA bruiser in the way they have pursued Damien Green. Re-reading your post from June, it now looks remarkably prophetic - correct on every count.

strapworld

If you are correct that "It will take a long time for the Cameroons to forget Davis’ bizarre resignation" then they have no idea what is concerning the ordinary man and woman these days!

Davis was right in what he did and more power to his elbow. If Cameron listened more to the likes of Davis, Fox and co and not his upper class pals around him, he may realise that he has got to take his silk gloves OFF.

Not only Davis. But Clark. Raffkind. Redwood. fighters all!

Alex R

It is extraordinary that it is only on this issue that Grieve has been high profile.

He also has this tendency to talk down to people, whereas with Davis he comes across as more of an equal.

Plus, Grieve's support for the ECHR is not going away anytime soon and will be a massive issue if the tories ever get in power.

CS

Come off it, I don't think any of the Cameroons have a problem with DD's views on civil liberties but were more than a little pissed off with his somewhat egocentric resignation. The leader of ANOTHER party is doing this therefore I must resign? Hardly logic and it all ended in a damp squib when he was barely opposed in the by-election he triggered.

If DD isn't in place to make the most effective attack over the Damian Green affair, it's no-one's fault but his own.

Plus DD's views of civil liberties are pretty selective if you examine them.

Susan Hill

But Cameron and Osborne don`t have silk gloves they have silk skin. Harder to remove.

Draughtsman

Cameron has always appeared to me to be too much the upper class gentleman abiding by the Queensberry rules to mix it with the headbutters and eye gougers that abound in the Labour 'government.' The result is that Labour are getting away with the most outrageous claims and obfuscations.
I agree entirely with Strapworld. Cameron needs to get big hitters like Davis back around him who can take this government to task and fight them at their level - soon.

Jeremy

"At the moment, David Davis would probably rather be arrested than return to the shadow cabinet."

LOLs!!

"He (Dominic Grieve) was outperformed on Newsnight the other night by Chris Huhne which is rather like being the second tallest mountain in Holland."

Ah! To whit, the wit! You know, James...from here....on a clear day you can see Forever^^

"...Davis’ bizarre resignation."

Less bizarre in hindsight, I would suggest.

Ian C

You're being a little unfair on Grieve. He did not come second to Huhne and it was not a beauty contest. I thought they both did well.

That is not to say your points about balance at the top and needing Davis back are not valid. There are plenty of jobs he could do - would probably have to start a bit lower anyway - and I would recommend he takes Theresa May's slot as she is not up to it and Harman is a key Labour Minsiter.

Verity

Draughtsman, I too entirely agree with Strapworld, and I also agree with your post. Except I would not say "Cameron needs to get bit hitters like Davis..." because Cameron is not capable of understanding the need for fearless bruisers like Mr Davis. And also, he fears them because he doesn't know how to deal with them. John Redwood isn't exactly an obsequious personality. Neither is Kenneth Clark. I think Cameron's a coward and I think he truly does not understand the country's Conservatives. Further, I don't think Cameron's a Conservative. He's a drawing room liberal with all the answers. It was just the easiest platform from which to launch himself.

I don't think the Conservatives will get back into the driver's seat as long as he is leader. He doesn't know how to rally the party because he doesn't relate to us or our beliefs.

TrevorsDen

"they really cannot see the issue is one of Personal Liberty" --- this remark like quite a few others is a load of old 'rollocks'.

I do not know why Davis resigned but his re-election was a waste of time.

Anyone who thinks shadow cabinet members can just up sticks anytime they like to fight cavalier quixotic by-elections are 'out of their tiny chinese minds'.

I hope Davis comes back I like him. Grieve is a decent man too, I look forward to seeing him in real office - which is why all these remarks are just plain patheic and daft.

But Davis was shadow home secretary not immigration so quite what the 'police would not have dared' point is all about is beyond me. Just fatuous trouble making perhaps?

George Laird

Dear All

I would think it is an excellent idea to return David Davis to the front bench as Shadow Home Secretary. Jacqui Smith will look even more incompetent than usual.

In any Government, what is need is a Thomas More figure and Davis could fit the bill, the Tories and David Cameron need him.

It should not be a question of if but rather when.

Finally, here is a thought to get your heads around, David Davis for Speaker of the House of Commons!

Think about it.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Bob Gibson

If Davis ad been elected leader we might have a real opposition rather than the PR led trash we get from Cameron

DM

I thought Dominic Grieve has, for once, broken free of his tendency to talk down to people and has come to life (at last) since Green's arrest.
As for DD - he can join in too, why not? He has plenty to say. So have lots of people. It's not an exclusive arena. But why should that buy him Grieve's place in a Shadow Cabinet?
How pathetic that the Tories, who would love to see the Home Secretary fall, would kill off their own Shadow to reinstate such an egotistical, smug, self publicist as David Davis, Tooting lad or not.

mitch

He would have nailed that silly woman jack boots spliff to the wall over the arrest.
Cameron should have him back at whatever cost.

Mark

DD has shown himself to be a maverick; not a team player. It is a great shame, not least because he would balance the top team in the Shadow Cabinet and has been effective in oppostion, but his idionsyncratic resignation makes it risky to get him back.

DG was outdone by Huhne on Newsnight and needs time to develop. He is right to support the ECHR. The problem with the ECHR is not the convention, but ill-informed, defensive advice based upon a risk-averse misunderstanding of it.

Carol-Ann

Completely agree with you on this James. Grieve did not impress on newsnight. The problem with Grieve is he is too nerdy, a great Shadow Attorney General but does not connect with the public enough to be shadow home secretary, in the way Davis does. Cameron needs to take a leaf out of Barack Obama's book and have a shadow cabinet that is diverse, full of big beasts and yes potential rivals as well. It will add depth, experience, credibility and put an end to the perception of the Tory alternative to Labour is a bunch of Toffs. Ken Clarke is needed back in the shadow cabinet as well.

Mark

I don't understand why you feel it is reasonble to effectively dismiss Chris Huhne as an irrelevance. He is an excellent politician and media performer and it is wholly unsurprising that he outshone Grieve.

This kind of attitude against Lib Dems (by default it seems) really annoys me.

I have also posted about this here:

http://markreckons.blogspot.com/2008/12/liberal-democrats-being-dismissed.html

John Ernest Strafford

Dominic Grieve and David davis are both big-hitters. There should be room for both in the Shadow Cabinet.

Verity

Bob Gibson - If Davis had been elected leader, the Tories would be the party of Government now. He relates to Conservatives and they relate to him and they trust him.

Do you know anyone who trusts Cameron?

George Laird

Dear All

I have done a wee bit political campaigning, not everyone is suited to be out front talking.

I found this out during elections, some people can't click with others effectively.

Dominic Grieve forte is really the Shadow Attorney General role, no disgrace in that.

Dominic Grieve could make a great Attorney General but it is down to him if he remembers to put justice first.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Jon

Verity - again, we all know you dislike Cameron.

Change the record please, it's getting boring.

David Parker

Verity, I agree with you that Cameron is not what many of us would recognise as a Conservative, but then nor are many of his front bench.

There seems to be a fundamental division of philosophy in the Mod/Cons, with one faction ( The Cameroonians)believing that all that matters initially is winning the next election, upon whatever pretext and at whatever cost. The other faction, probably representing most of the grass roots Tories, believe that the party should establish and clarify a clear set of principles and core beliefs, which clearly differentiates them from the opportunistic vacillations of the Cameroonians and the other parties, believing that the general public are heartily sick of the "one size fits all" modern politicians and would prefer to vote for a party with the guts and honesty to say what they really believe in, regardless of fluctuating popularity.

Verity

David Parker - Exactly. "One-size-fits-all politics." Well said.

strapworld

Jon, leave Verity alone. She is entitled to her opinion and in most respects I support her.

You must accept that Cameron has been particularly luke warm. To be honest his approach has really concerned me. Does he have total confidence in Damian Green? that worries me.

But I have been concerned for a long time about his 'bottle' 'backbone' 'steel'
can he fight? I am of the opinion that he cannot. He is just Mr Nice Guy.

That will not win elections.

Lets face it any shadow cabinet with the likes of Letwin and Maude in it does not inspire many with confidence now, does it?

TGF UKIP

Why on earth would DD be daft enough to re-join this bunch of timorous losers who are terrified of actually being labelled "conservatives".

The Damian Green affair will pass, the painful inadequacy of Dave and Boy George will be the continuing Tory handicap.

The worst government faced by the worst "opposition" ever.

Tiberius

I'm with TGF over DD, although (obviously) for different reasons.

In his piece for Parliamentarian of the Year feature in the mag., Matt says his resignation may well have ended his front-bench career. I can't see a way back for such a loose cannon - the Tories have enough to deal with in that upright institution known as the British Labour Party.

j galt

Ignoring the conflict DD would bring to the shadow cabinet, people actually like someone who is not the attack dog of Davis.

It is not all about scalps as this can often look like unfair hounding.

This week I had two conversations with Lib Dem voters (with BoJo 2nd pref!) who told me how well they thought Grieve had done - they appreciated his measured approach. DD's hyperbole puts many off.

Barbara Villliers

You are all deluded. David Davis is disloyal, lazy and couldn't run a piss up in a brewery - just ask any of the staff who couldn't stick him and his bully boy henchman. Also too many skeletons in the closet. David Cameron is well rid and he knows it.

Verity

Nicely encapsulated TGF UKIP. The worst government faced by the worst "opposition". Well said.

The rank and file in the Tory party are not going to come piling in behind David Cameron. For one thing, no one has a clue what he stands for. Well, except we know that he pledged to equal Labour's lavish hosing around of taxpayer money. And we know that he believes in "green" because he has a dinky little windmill on his roof. And he cycles to work wearing a dinky little safety helmet.

And he's a Europhiliac - mainly because he wants to get in on it. Nothing to do with what's good for Britain.

Everything else is up in the air. How can any party leader go for three years without anyone having a clue what he believes in? Or what his plans for the country are? Has Cameron ever said a single word about Muslim terrorism in Britain, and the export of "British" terrorists to places like, well, Mumbai? What are Cameron's plans for immigration - of compelling interest to every Conservative, and many Labour voters, in the country? We've never heard a peep.

Weygand

I have to say that both Grieve and Davis feature in that very small number of politicians who give honest, analytical and persuasive answers during media interviews.

Cameron needs to learn how best to exploit the talents of both, if he hopes to win the next general election, as they are among the strongest cards he has to play.

Lady Finchley

TGF UKIP - you're just another Euro-bore. Ho hum - do people like you ever have anything else to say? The Conservatives lead in all the polls and have done for some time. The rank and file Conservatives you talk about are (literally)dying out. Wake up and smell the coffee. And Verity, if you lived here you would know what David Cameron had to say on the issues. DC and Damian Green have come out strongly on immigration any number of times - just check out the Conservative website for his many speeches and articles. Why the pathological hatred?

Ian C

The worst opposition was the M Foot Labour party (open goal missed by miles), the Neil Kinnock Labour party and then the ID-S and M Howard Tories (Hague was always hamstrung after 1997).

The Cameron Tories have showed the cool under fire from all sides to play it long. They have not got everything right but you would not expect them to.

You hardened critics (Verity and TGF in particular but you have some fellow tarvellers) have a role to point out their weaknesses but that, it seems, is all you are good for as you assume the worst the whole time.

This is the worst government but the Cameron Tories are getting there, partly by error. But that is to be expected. You need to be more careful of what you wish for. It is too idealistic and the country won't go with you. That is the reality.

Morus

Excellent piece, though I think you're being a little harsh on Chris Huhne, who is a significantly more polished media performer than anyone else in his party.

Verity

Lady Finchley, from the fact that I comment here, it should not be too taxing to deduce that I read the British papers. If David Cameron ever said anything about immigration (and no, I'm not going to plough through their website) it has been distinctly unmemorable. It will have been unmemorable because it will have been non-commital.

I would like to hear him promise a 10 year moratorium on immigration, except for exceptional talents that the country needs. I.e., not doctors from the third world when British trained doctors are having to leave the country to find jobs. He should say he'd dump Brown's nasty, pandering new rule that multiple marriages are somehow legitimate as long as they took place in a country where they're legal - and that all the "wives" are entitled to benefits paid for by the working British. There is one law in this country, and it is British law. He should address the issues that people are talking about, not what his clique is talking about.

David Davis or John Redwood both have sharper intelligences and both are more articulate.

TGF UKIP

Ian C, I accept your strictures, milder this time, though, than they have been on occasion in the past. Yours are posts I always read, and I do have respect for and generally agree with your views (and I hope that does not cause you too much embarrassment by passive association.)

Speaking only for myself, I am fully aware that mine is an extreme position on this blogsite. I have complete contempt for Cameron and Osborne and some of the other wet blankets they have surrounded themselves by. I also believe that in cahoots with d'Ancona and Co they conned the Conservative Party into electing them back in 2005.

However, while I am fully aware that mine may be a minority viewpoint here what should cause real anxiety to you, the other rational Coffee House Tories ( setting aside the out and out Cameron cheerleaders) and Conservaive Party trawlers of this site, is just how little genuine enthusiasm there is for Cameron and Osborne.

Indeed, the attitude often seems to be "shut up TGF/Verity etc, Cameron may not be much but he's all we've got and better than Brown."

Or have I misunderstood and am misrepresenting? I stand to be correected.

Verity & Co will as always speak for themselves in their own inimitable ways.

Lady Finchley

Verity, you are wrong here and it pains me to say it because we agree on so many things. David Cameron HAS said all that and more - you cannot possibly read every British paper. Do you watch Newsnight and the evening news show? Do you watch the Parliament channel? You say you don't want to trawl through the Conservative website but on it you will find all the articles, speeches, press releases etc from DC and the shadow front bench. And I am sorry but the Conservative Party should not be all about immigration (and I think you know I share your views on it) but there are other pressing issues to be concerned with. I know it is your pet subject but we have a broken society and David Cameron has had more to say about it than Labour who are in a state of denial and think society is a-ok - well any society that bred Karen Matthews and her ilk is broken. And speaking of broken, you are getting like a broken record about DC - it is getting pathological. DD would have made a great Home Secretary but NOT a good leader. He judgement has been shown to be flawed on many issues, he's devisive and quite frankly, he's old school. Yes, he's got balls but he is not a team player or a team leader. I am very sorry that he is not still Shadow Home Secretary but I am NOT sorry that he is not the Leader.

Lady Finchley

TGF UKIP You say there is little genuine enthusiasm for Cameron and Osborne. You know this how? Maybe in your little UKIP world but believe me, we don't want or need your enthusiasm.

Verity

Lady Finchley and others - I apologise for the length of the following.

No, I don't watch Newsnight or the other programmes to which you refer. I'm not interested in the endless, pointless discussions that change nothing. There will be no change until Labour is out for the count, possibly never to return in its present incarnation. That is Number 1 on the agenda and David Cameron isn't addressing it. He isn't saying anything that the Conservatives can relate to, nor to which the the vast tranche of Labour voters who feel they have been disenfranchised by favouritism shown to primitive incomers can relate to.

I note that one school has postponed its Navity Play until January because, "It interferes with Eid."

The working Briton is subsidizing free treatment - some of it very expensive, and for life - thousands of Pakistani children born with birth defects through generations of incestuous marriages to first cousins. They account for ONE-THIRD of newborns with birth defects. Given this staggering number, the issue should be addressed. Marriage between first cousins should be outlawed, as should importing marriage partners out of a cave somewhere.

Cameron should not just be speaking to Tories - although if he spoke to Tories, that would be nice - but there are millions of other voters who feel they're not living in their own country any more.

Society is "broken" in the new buzzword, because Blair and Brown took a bludgeon to our ancient rights and our ancient, our social fabric and our familial feel and they arranged for the mass importation of Muslims to dilute, and eventually outbreed, the ownership of our country. Through lack of vigilance and fear of being beaten up by the thought fascists, you have allowed Islam to creep into the fabric of Britain and if you are not vigilant, it will become the default religion. A Nativity play postponed out of "respect" for Islam. Vile halal food served in school canteens (without the knowledge of the British parents) because "it doesn't really matter to the British, but the Muslims want it". Others can cite other examples.

This was deliberate. People underestimate the viciousness and malignity of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and it appears that David Cameron does too.

Immigration and the broken society are not two separate issues, as you suggest. Immigration of primitives with a totally alien belief system and social system was a bludgeon with which to attack the British. Little by little, these people, with their Stone Age habits are being elevated over the people who own this country. And the British feel disenfranchised in their own country. But Cameron fears to mention it because frankly, his natural inclination is to be politically correct.

In other words, he's a leader who fears to lead. It also makes him most unappealing.

People are waiting and listening, but he speaks not. He is Blair Lite. You are going to lose the next election because David Cameron has no charisma and no nerve. He could get millions of votes from Labour if he promised to disenfranchise the welfare sector - the broken society. These people create no wealth and it is lunacy that they should have a say on how the wealth created by others is spent.

If Cameron promised to disenfranchise this segment - which could be reversed at the click of a computer key in individual cases the minute someone became gainfully employed - he would instantaneously win millions of votes from working Labour voters.

As Mark Steyn has said: "No representation without taxation".

I have responded at such length and at the risk of inducing yawns and sighs, because your post was blinkered. You did not address the issue of David not having, in three years, developed a keen following.

And, to be candid, if by some miracle the Conservatives got in in the next election, little would change.

BTW, TGI UKIP is not a member of UKIP.

Lady Finchley

Verity - you are so right and so wrong. Your are right about creeping Islamism. But you are so wrong about what Cameron is about. You admit you don't watch Newsnight and refuse to look at the Conservative website so you are totally unaware of the stance he has taken on your pet subject. You are in danger of becoming a one trick pony which would be a great waste of your obvious intelligence. As for saying Cameron has no charisma - well that is a matter of opinion but yours is definitely in the minority. I happen to have supported DD in the leadership but I now know that he would have made s super Home Sec but a leader he is not.

The Conservatives you talk about don't exist anymore and thank God for that. The narrow minded little Englanders for whom the EU and immigration are the only issues that matter have either defected to UKIP - good riddance to them or are decreasing in numbers through natural attrition. David Cameron is the best shot we have and have had for a long time.

Since you are too stubborn and/or lazy I have provided you with some links that you may find helpful.

http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2007/06/David_Cameron_Islam_and_Muslims_in_the_World_Today.aspx
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Community_Relations.aspx
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Crime_and_Justice.aspx

http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/National_Security.aspx

Verity

Thanks for the links, Lady Finchley, but you are right, I'm too lazy to bother to read them. I have a visceral dislike of Cameron and his empty, character-free face and his record as Leader is poor, despite a good performance now and then at the Despatch Box. He may be competent in other areas, but he's not a leader. And if he is now forcing himself to discuss immigration, he's a day late and a dollar short.

This is the man who sacked an honourable soldier, Patrick Mercer, on a trumped up charge of non-existent "racism". By cell phone. Such bravery! Such coarse disrespect for an honourable man is not the mark of a leader. It's more like something petty and vicious Gordon Brown would do to big himself up.

I believe I recall, Lady Finchley, that you were one of the posters repelled by this action.