Labour rebels pledge to campaign FOR David Davis over 42 days issue

Rebel MPs endorsed his decision to stand on the issue of civil liberties and even vowed to campaign on the Tory's behalf.

Mr Davis, until last week Shadow Home Secretary, is expected to resign as an MP tomorrow or on Wednesday, precipitating a July 10 poll in his East Yorkshire constituency of Haltemprice and Howden.

David Davis: Heading for victory

The Liberal Democrats have pledged not to oppose him because they agree with his stand against holding terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days.

Labour has signalled that it is also unlikely to stand - angering many of its backbenchers who voted against the Government last week on the 42-day issue.

Yesterday Mr Davis claimed the support of Labour rebels Bob Marshall-Andrews and Ian Gibson, both of whom opposed Gordon Brown last week.

Mr Marshall-Andrews said he would be speaking for a 'very large part' of the Labour Party by supporting Mr Davis in Haltemprice and Howden. 'I'm very sorry that
my party is not fielding a candidate - very, very sorry indeed,' he told Sky News.

'This is something which needs to be debated and if I had anything to do with it, my party would say, "We want to get out there and be part of this debate." I would hope that my party would say we are still the party of civil liberties and we want to go and tell people that. If they don't, I am sorry. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us can't go into the campaign and say precisely that. I think I will be speaking for a very large part of the Labour Party and I hope for a very large part of the electorate.'

Mr Davis accused Gordon Brown of 'gutlessness' if he did not put up a candidate to defend his position on counter-terrorism.

'This is a man who bottled it on the general election, bottled it on a referendum and now he is going to bottle it even on a by-election where he could bring the full resources of his party to play against me and argue this,' he said. 'All my constituents - or the massive-majority of them - think this was a thing worth doing, they think this was an argument worth having, and the Prime Minister is treating them with contempt.'

He claimed: 'I actually can't walk through a train station now for people coming up to me and shaking my hand.'

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague admitted that the Tories 'wished' Mr Davis had remained in the Shadow Cabinet.

'He has got the endorsement of a Labour MP and I think this does show the extent of division within the Labour Party on this matter,' he said. 'The Conservative Party is united on this issue.'

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said Mr Davis's principled decision to resign should not be questioned. And he defended his decision not to put up a candidate.

'There are certain issues that go beyond party politics and this was one of those occasions,' he said.

If Labour does not put up a candidate, Mr Davis is expected to face opposition from former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, on a pro-42 days platform, and Miss Great Britain Gemma Garrett.

He's right, say voters

Mr Davis's constituents support his actions and will give him a decisive victory in next month's by-election, a survey suggested yesterday.

Fifty-seven per cent agreed he should have stood down and 69 per cent said it was a principled decision, according to the ICM poll for the Mail on Sunday.

If former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie stood against the Tory on a pro-42 days ticket, he could expect to gain only 14 per cent of the vote, compared compared with 67 per cent for Mr Davis, it was claimed.

In a straight fight between Mr Davis and Labour, Gordon Brown's party would do even worse than Mr MacKenzie. The survey of more than 500 voters in Haltemprice and Howden suggested only 11 per cent would back Labour.

If a General Election were to be held now, Mr Davis would command 59 per cent of the vote, the Liberal Democrats 26 and Labour a lowly 12.