NEWS RELEASE FROM THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE
In Association with the Libertarian International
Release Date: Thursday 12th June 2008
Release Time: Immediate
Contact Details:
Dr Sean Gabb on 07956 472 199 or via sean@libertarian.co.uk
For other contact and link details, see the foot of this message
Release url: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/news/nr066.htm
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
END OF COPY
Note(s) to Editors
Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance. His latest book, Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives Lost England, and How to Get It Back, may be downloaded for free from http://tinyurl.com/34e2o3. It may also be bought. His other books are available from Hampden Press at http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk.
He can be contacted for further comment on 07956 472 199 or by email at sean@libertarian.co.uk
Extended Contact Details:
The Libertarian Alliance is Britain’s most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute. It has published over 800 articles, pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its forms. These are freely available at http://www.libertarian.co.uk
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The Libertarian International – http://www.libertarian.to – is a sister organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the world.
Sean Gabb’s personal website – http://www.seangabb.co.uk – contains about a million words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians and conservatives.
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Am I the only one who cannot fathom David Davis’ decision regardless of whether I agree with him on the issue of 42 days or not?
Surely he’s be better off fighting the civil liberties issues from his position in the official opposition?
Most importantly, doesn’t his decision trigger an otherwise needless by-election? On this basis, I cannot see why public funds should be used to administer the election; nor can I see how anyone can justify the disruption to the educational and community life of East Yorkshire as schools, village and church halls are paid for, hired, satffed and used as polling stations.
On this basis alone, surely the Libertarian Alliance ought to be utterly AGAINST this by-election?
Perhaps the real issue in this by-election is should Council Tax payers’ money (no doubt from “hard working families”) to fund a personal political stunt?
It is an honour, for a public building such as a Church hall, or school, to be used as a polling station. This siginifies the primacy of the People – and not in the way stalinists mean – over politicians and politics, and not the other way around.
Furthermore, Davis is a competent Historian: it is impossible to be this thing without being innately conservative (small “c”) which is to say, a liberal and in favour of reducing State Power and not increasing it.
Firthermore, it was shameful and wicked that “Jacqui” “Smith” (described as a “Home Secretary”) should have even thought of wanting to increase the time limits for detention without charge. It merely smacks of a lazy Police Force which wants to go home at 5-o-clock instead of pursuing enquiries. If those enquiries are about matters as serious as suspected terorism, then they should be carried out within 24 hours and not at the leisurely pace that is to be suggested. The Police seem to have all the resources they need these days; this compares in a sinister way to the 1974-79 Labour days when they were underpaid and under-resourced badly. There is no excuse for trying to say that “modern technology” or “modern communications” make investigations more complicated.
It’s a clever plan by Davis, he’s thinking of the long game and positioning himself firmly where he wants to be. But of course it could backfire. If there is a low turnout or a good vote for the fringe parties he will have wrecked his carer.
I would want to wreck my “carer”, if i was as independent as I think he is.