David Davies - would he have resigned without Lib Dem support?

A conundrum........is it not? David Davies flounces out so what do we do?

Now. It may not of have escaped your notice dear reader, but I tend to have Messrs Clegg and Hughes so far up the pedestal they are hardly visible to the naked eye. But on this decision I fear they have got it terribly wrong.

So. Let me pose a question. Let's imagine that it was not David Davies taking this principled stand that we so agree with. Let's imagine it was Bob Spink (forget his actual position for a mo), who had taken the same principled position as us. Let's imagine it was Bob Spink who had flounced out and forced a by election. Would we have taken the same view and given UKIP a clear run? And if not why not?

Whilst I fully accept that David Davies is totally opposed to the erosion of our civil liberties, as was pointed out this evening, would it not have been better had he stayed as shadow Home Secretary and fought his corner there? I have never heard anything quite so absurd. Had he been Home Secretary in a Tory Government in these circumstances his decision would have been brave and appropriate. As it is, he is resigning from the party he supports....???? It is posturing of the worst kind and I fear we may be complicit in it. We hear that he spoke to Nick Clegg late last night. Why - if it was not to ensure Lib Dem support for his actions and an agreement to butt out of the by election? Had he been told we would contest the by election, would he have gone ahead and resigned?

Simon Hughes reminds us that we have done the same thing before in Tatton. We also bowed out in Kidderminster. But in both cases it was to support independent candidates. I am not sure I even agree with that, it doesn't quite accord with my notion of democracy. However, that is far more defensible than what we have here, we support one aspect of what this man is saying about civil liberties, but heavens, on nearly every other issue isn't he the archetypal right wing Tory??? And let's not forget, these are the Tories who can bang the drum about civil liberties on the one hand and talk about repealing the Human Rights Act on the other - shouldn't we be taking this opportunity to point out that hypocrisy? Instead, it seems to me, we are allowing David Davies to steal our overcoat whilst inviting him to take our shirt while he is about it!

For me Jonathan Fryer has hit the nail on the head. Mark my words, this is likely to come back and bite us in the bottom.