LONDON (AFP) — The Conservative Party's home affairs spokesman resigned Thursday in an unprecedented move to trigger a by-election over controversial government anti-terrorism plans.
Davis said he would fight for re-election on a single issue: opposition to moves to detain suspected extremists for up to six weeks without charge.
Former army reservist Davis, 59, is one of the top three figures in the Conservative Party, which is currently way ahead of the governing Labour Party in the opinion polls.
The shock resignation came the day after the government avoided defeat by just nine votes in parliament on plans to increase the maximum limit from the current 28 days to 42 days.
They had to rely on support from nine Democratic Unionist Party MPs to carry the vote.
The plans have been condemned by political parties and civil rights groups.
Conservative leader David Cameron described Davis's action as a "courageous" personal decision and said he would be happy to campaign for his re-election.
But political commentators wondered how pleased Cameron really was with the idea and questioned the wisdom of Davis's action.
Speaking outside parliament, Davis said he was taking a stand against Brown's "relentless erosion" of long-held freedoms by plans such as 42 days, introducing biometric identity cards and the proliferation of security cameras.
Having led the opposition to the 42-day plans, "I feel it incumbent upon me to take a stand," he told reporters.
"I will argue in this by-election against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government."
Davis described Brown's argument as a political, not a national security one, and insisted debate was vital on "one of the most fundamental issues of our day: the ever intrusive power of the state into our lives".
His re-election would send a message that "the monstrosity of a law that we passed yesterday will not stand."
Davis has been the Conservatives' home affairs spokesman since November 2003 and came second to Cameron in the December 2005 party leadership contest.
He won a fairly comfortable 5,116 majority at the last general election in June 2005 in his rural Howden and Haltemprice constituency in northern England.
The former Europe minister accepted it was a risk but the Liberal Democrats, his most likely challengers, said they would not stand against him.
The Liberal Democrats oppose the 42-day plans.
Labour's Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said the Tories were "plainly in disarray and confusion" on national security and were "fighting like ferrets in a sack."
"This forced by-election is a farce -- and an insult to the voters in Haltemprice and Howden."
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