Aus Protest gegen die de facto-Abschaffung von Habeas Corpus trat soeben der konservative Schatteninnenminister David Davis zurück. Dabei hielt er die beste politische Rede, die ich in Großbritannien seit langem gehört habe. Hier kann man sie ansehen. Mr Davis sagte:

The name of my constituency is Haltemprice and Howden. Haltemprice is derived from a Medieval proverb meaning “noble endeavour”. Up until now I took the view that what we did in the House of Commons was a noble endeavour.

That is, what we did up until yesterday.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Magna Carta, which guarantees the right not to be imprisoned by the state without charge or reason.

Yesterday the House decided to lock up citizens for 42 days without charge.

The Counter-Terrorism Bill will in all probability be rejected by the House of Lords. But as the Bill and the impetus behind it is political, the Government will be tempted to use the Parliament Act to overrule the Lords.

Its legal basis is uncertain, to say the least, but purely for political reasons the Government is going to do this.

Next we will see 56 days, 72 days, then 90 days. But in truth, 42 days is just one example of the insidious and relentless undermining of fundamental British freedoms.

We will soon have the most extensive Identity Card system in the world. We have seen the extension of CCTV cameras, and of DNA databases holding the details of millions of innocent citizens. We have seen an assault on jury trial, shortcuts introduced into our justice system to make it neither firmer nor fairer, and a database set up that exposes our personal data to careless civil servants and computer hackers. We have seen the state clamp down on public demonstrations, while those who incite violence get off scot free.

This cannot go on, it must be stopped. And therefore today I have decided it is incumbent on me to take a stand. I am resigning from this house, and intend to force a by-election in Haltemprice and Howden.

I am just a piece in this great chess game. But I will fight this, I will argue this, by standing against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this Government.

That may mean that I have made my last speech to this great House, and of course that would be a cause of deep regret to me. But at least my electorate and the nation as a whole will have had the opportunity to debate and consider one of the most fundamental issues of the day: the intrusion of the state into our lives, loss of liberties and the state’s undermining of law.

If they do send me back, it will be with a single, simple message: that the monstrosity of a law passed just yesterday will not stand.