Sunday, February 22, 2009

Backbencher of the Week

With the U.S. Congress out on their President's day recess we turn to the UK to find this week's Backbencher of the Week.  This week's winner is David Davis(Con-Haltemprice and Howden). 

Mr Davis has served in Parliament since 1987 and until the summer of 2008 he was a Tory frontbencher.  Most of the time he was the Shadow Home Secretary and he led the Conservative opposition to the Labour government's scheme to introduce a nationwide ID card.

In the summer of 2008 the Labor government pushed a counter terrorism bill through the Commons that included a provision that extended the amount of time the police could hold a terror suspect without charges to 42 days.  The bill was later defeated in the House of Lords.  In protest Mr Davis resigned from the Commons to force a by-election.  Mr Davis ran for the seat and hoped to use the campaign to launch a further debate on civil liberties in the UK.

Most recently, David Davis has been a leading voice in trying to free Binyam Mohamed from Guantanamo.  With news this week that Mr. Mohamed will soon be released from Guantanamo, we recognize one of Parliament's leading voices in support of civil liberties.  

Congratulations David Davis on being this week's Backbencher of the Week. 

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