SHADOW home secretary David Davis shook Westminster at lunchtime when he announced he was quitting as an MP to fight a by-election “take a stand” against the Government's 42-day terror detention plan.

Graham Dines

SHADOW home secretary David Davis shook Westminster at lunchtime when he announced he was quitting as an MP to fight a by-election “take a stand” against the Government's 42-day terror detention plan.

Mr Davis said the undermining of civil liberties through moves such as 42 days detention and the introduction of identity cards “cannot go on. It must be stopped and for that reason today I feel it is incumbent on me to take a stand.”

Mr Davis, who would not have resigned had the Government been defeated in last night's Commons vote, will not face a Liberal Democrat challenger.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party had always opposed this “unnecessary and illiberal proposal which poses a threat so serious to British liberties that it transcends party politics.

“I have therefore decided, after consultation with the party nationally and locally, that we will not stand in the by-election.”

In 2005, Mr Davis was defeated by David Cameron in the Conservative Party's leadership campaign. He is highly regarded by all parties at Westminster.