After
the initial widespread scepticism of David Davis' move to resign his
seat and force a by-election on the issue of civil liberties, things
seem to be loosening up.

There is an extensive article in today's Times
that, first of all, brings us the news that at least one Labour rebel
is travelling to Yorkshire to support Davis, the MP for Medway, Bob
Marshall-Andrews. There is also Davis claiming that although he will
not have the full Tory Party machine behind him, he has “had thousands
of calls of support, right down to the pensioner who says ‘my pension
comes in tomorrow. I’ll send some money to Mr Davis out of it’. The
offers of money have gone from a fiver to £25,000.”
The Guardian (or The Observer,
depending on whether read online or not) reports that he received one
email “from a woman who worked on a local government project to
encourage the alienated and unfranchised to vote. What he had done, she
wrote, would 'make my job so much easier'.”

Also in the
Guardian comes the news that Labour may be trying to convince an
outsider to stand against Davis, but their reported approach to Rachel
North, a 7/7 survivor, failed because she actually gets why the 42-day
detention legislation is so lunatic: “I am a big fan of civil liberties
and freedom and democracy, all things that terrorists are not keen on
…” She supports Davis, and has indicated she “might do something” in
his campaign if he asked.

What of Kelvin Mackenzie? Well, regardless of the fact he is floundering in local polls,
there is the small detail that his claim that Rupert Murdoch would back
him financially is not possible, because of rules preventing an
overseas citizen financially backing an electoral candidate. His claim
that Hull is a “shocker” did him no favours either, after which,
according to Conservative Home, Murdoch “disowned him”.

Yesterday, Dominic Grieve's indication
that the Tories may push the detention limit further down from 28-days
hinted that Davis' move may have “opened the floodgates”. Today, The Englishman points to an article in The Scotsman
that Davis's supporters in the party see the by-election as the only
the “first salvo” in a “relentless campaign” on civil liberties and
freedom. One of his allies said that the Conservatives were the “only
libertarian party out there”, “that is what the Tory Party is about”.

Strong words, but as the Devil
points out, the Tories are a long way from being a “libertarian party”,
or from being classical liberal. Still, it is nice to see assorted
members of the Tory Party wishing to “redraw the Conservatives as the
party of liberty, against the authoritarian Labour Party.”

The Liberty Bell is ringing, politicians will ignore it at their peril.

There is no left or right in UK politics any more. This battle is about one thing, Authoritarianism versus Liberty.

The Only home of Libertarianism in the UK

Your Life, Your Country, Your Choice.

After
the initial widespread scepticism of David Davis' move to resign his
seat and force a by-election on the issue of civil liberties, things
seem to be loosening up.

There is an extensive article in today's Times
that, first of all, brings us the news that at least one Labour rebel
is travelling to Yorkshire to support Davis, the MP for Medway, Bob
Marshall-Andrews. There is also Davis claiming that although he will
not have the full Tory Party machine behind him, he has “had thousands
of calls of support, right down to the pensioner who says ‘my pension
comes in tomorrow. I’ll send some money to Mr Davis out of it’. The
offers of money have gone from a fiver to £25,000.”
The Guardian (or The Observer,
depending on whether read online or not) reports that he received one
email “from a woman who worked on a local government project to
encourage the alienated and unfranchised to vote. What he had done, she
wrote, would 'make my job so much easier'.”

Also in the
Guardian comes the news that Labour may be trying to convince an
outsider to stand against Davis, but their reported approach to Rachel
North, a 7/7 survivor, failed because she actually gets why the 42-day
detention legislation is so lunatic: “I am a big fan of civil liberties
and freedom and democracy, all things that terrorists are not keen on
…” She supports Davis, and has indicated she “might do something” in
his campaign if he asked.

What of Kelvin Mackenzie? Well, regardless of the fact he is floundering in local polls,
there is the small detail that his claim that Rupert Murdoch would back
him financially is not possible, because of rules preventing an
overseas citizen financially backing an electoral candidate. His claim
that Hull is a “shocker” did him no favours either, after which,
according to Conservative Home, Murdoch “disowned him”.

Yesterday, Dominic Grieve's indication
that the Tories may push the detention limit further down from 28-days
hinted that Davis' move may have “opened the floodgates”. Today, The Englishman points to an article in The Scotsman
that Davis's supporters in the party see the by-election as the only
the “first salvo” in a “relentless campaign” on civil liberties and
freedom. One of his allies said that the Conservatives were the “only
libertarian party out there”, “that is what the Tory Party is about”.

Strong words, but as the Devil
points out, the Tories are a long way from being a “libertarian party”,
or from being classical liberal. Still, it is nice to see assorted
members of the Tory Party wishing to “redraw the Conservatives as the
party of liberty, against the authoritarian Labour Party.”

The Liberty Bell is ringing, politicians will ignore it at their peril.

There is no left or right in UK politics any more. This battle is about one thing, Authoritarianism versus Liberty.

The Only home of Libertarianism in the UK

Your Life, Your Country, Your Choice.

Just for today, in London, antiwar protests have been banned. For those
who don't know, it's because George W. Bush is coming to town – read
the article here.

Our
civil liberties have been under particularly sustained assault in
recent days, so that news of this sort has gone relatively unnoticed:

London police have announced a ban on anti-war campaigners hoping to
protest against President George Bush's visit to Downing Street this Sunday. The
Whitehall ban has been immediately condemned as a “totalitarian act” by the
playwright Harold Pinter, while Stop the War organisers are urging people to
defy it and to demonstrate nearby in Parliament Square.

“In what is supposed to be a free country the Stop the War Coalition has
every right to express its views peacefully and openly. This ban is outrageous
and makes the term 'democracy' laughable,” Pinter said today.

Lindsey German, a leader of the Stop the War Coalition, said: “It seems
that when George W Bush visits this country traditional rights of assembly are
to be removed from the people.”

Whatever
your opinion of the war, or even, the antiwar protestors – hell, I'm
staunchly antiwar myself, but find a lot of the hard-left who populate
the antiwar movement unbearable! – surely a fundamental staple of
democracy and freedom in this country is that whether or not we
disagree with one another, we will defend one another's right to do so;
to disagree, to be able to speak, think and act freely, so long as it
does not infringe on the reciprocal rights of others. That this is no
longer applicable to our once proud and free country, as has become
increasingly, blindingly obvious, is a tragedy that demonstrates how
far democracy and our traditional rights have been subverted here. Habeas Corpus one day, freedom of assembly the next.

As Dan put it on his blog:

Free, nonviolent protest just … banned? Like that?! What the hell
happened? Did I miss a meeting?! Is it OK, in a supposedly democratic state, to
deny people the expression of their opinion?

Did a totalitarian dictator take over or something?

Hattip LPUK

Just for today, in London, antiwar protests have been banned. For those
who don't know, it's because George W. Bush is coming to town – read
the article here.

Our
civil liberties have been under particularly sustained assault in
recent days, so that news of this sort has gone relatively unnoticed:

London police have announced a ban on anti-war campaigners hoping to
protest against President George Bush's visit to Downing Street this Sunday. The
Whitehall ban has been immediately condemned as a “totalitarian act” by the
playwright Harold Pinter, while Stop the War organisers are urging people to
defy it and to demonstrate nearby in Parliament Square.

“In what is supposed to be a free country the Stop the War Coalition has
every right to express its views peacefully and openly. This ban is outrageous
and makes the term 'democracy' laughable,” Pinter said today.

Lindsey German, a leader of the Stop the War Coalition, said: “It seems
that when George W Bush visits this country traditional rights of assembly are
to be removed from the people.”

Whatever
your opinion of the war, or even, the antiwar protestors – hell, I'm
staunchly antiwar myself, but find a lot of the hard-left who populate
the antiwar movement unbearable! – surely a fundamental staple of
democracy and freedom in this country is that whether or not we
disagree with one another, we will defend one another's right to do so;
to disagree, to be able to speak, think and act freely, so long as it
does not infringe on the reciprocal rights of others. That this is no
longer applicable to our once proud and free country, as has become
increasingly, blindingly obvious, is a tragedy that demonstrates how
far democracy and our traditional rights have been subverted here. Habeas Corpus one day, freedom of assembly the next.

As Dan put it on his blog:

Free, nonviolent protest just … banned? Like that?! What the hell
happened? Did I miss a meeting?! Is it OK, in a supposedly democratic state, to
deny people the expression of their opinion?

Did a totalitarian dictator take over or something?

Hattip LPUK