It's still David Davis for me
Saturday, June 28, 2008 
I had to laugh when I saw the list of candidates (all 26 of them!) for the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. The full list is:
Grace Christine Astley - Independent
David Laurence Bishop - Church of the Militant Elvis Party
Ronnie Carroll - Make Politicians History
Mad Cow-Girl - The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
David Craig - Independent
Herbert Winford Crossman - Independent
Tess Culnane - National Front Britain for the British
Thomas Faithful Darwood - Independent
David Michael Davis - Conservative
Tony Farnon - Independent
Eamonn "Fitzy" Fitzpatrick - Independent
Christopher Mark Foren - Independent
Gemma Dawn Garrett - Miss Great Britain Party
George Hargreaves - Christian Party
Hamish Howitt - Freedom4Choice
David Icke - No party listed
John Nicholson - Independent
Shan Oakes - Green Party
David Pinder - The New Party
Joanne Robinson - English Democrats: Putting England First
Jill Saward - Independent
Norman Scarth - Independent
Walter Edward Sweeney - Independent
Christopher John Talbot - Socialist Equality Party
John Randle Upex - Independent
Greg Wood - Independent
Somewhere in there you may have spotted Hamish Howitt, the anti-smoking ban candidate. Now, as readers know, I sympathise with Hamish's position and - to date - Forest has been happy to give him a platform for his views. (Last year we invited him to speak at a reception at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool. This week we gave him the microphone so he could address guests at our Smoke-Free England? party in London, and we have also invited him to our reception at the House of Commons on Tuesday.)
Unfortunately, standing for parliament alongside David Icke, Mad Cow-Girl and the Church of the Militant Elvis Party threatens the very serious message that Hamish is trying to get across.
David Davis can rise above this circus because, until now, he has been in the driving seat and has set the agenda. That said, Donal Blaney has a very interesting take on the DD campaign HERE which, I think, is spot on. There is a real danger that all these candidates, allied to a lacklustre Davis campaign, could result in a small turnout and the sense that people really aren't that bothered about civil rights. That would be a disaster, not only for Davis, but for everyone who believes that civil rights (including smokers' rights) are worth fighting for.
For that reason, my vote (if I had one) would still go to David Davis. In the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, DD is the only civil rights campaigner who is going to win. He's lukewarm on the smoking issue (and doesn't want to embrace the subject as part of his manifesto), but - looking at the bigger picture - that doesn't matter. What matters - if we want civil liberties to remain high up the political agenda and more embarrassment to be heaped on the Labour government - is that David Davis wins on a good turnout, with an increased majority, and a larger percentage of the vote.
If Hamish wants my advice, it's this: throughout the campaign he must stick to DD like glue. Wherever Davis goes, Hamish must shadow him - not to upstage or verbally attack him (there must be no talk of "giving Davis a bloody nose") but to engage, support and expand upon DD's civil rights manifesto (see HERE).
In short, Hamish has got to play this straight. No hyperbole, no outrageous claims (eg "I believe we've got a good chance of beating David Davis", as Nick Hogan, his campaign manager, is reported to have said), just a simple, honest, down-to-earth message that smokers' rights matter because, if we ignore smaller breaches of our civil rights, politicians will be encouraged to introduce bigger breaches such as unrestricted surveillance cameras, 42-day detention without charge, and worse.
PS. You can read David Davis's campaign blog HERE.
Reader Comments (6)
Peter was mentioning somewhere that UKIP do not mention the SBE, even though they say they would ammend it. He says that, how are the other main political parties going to know the strength of feeling, (and possible loss/gain of votes) on this issue - or words to that effect. He also quite rightly points out that we all need to know. I think that if Hamish stands as a candidate, not talking about winning, but putting his point across (which he has a very charismatic way of doing), then it could be interesting and possibly encouraging to see where he comes in the batting order.
I don't agree, Timbone, As Simon has rightly pointed out, just look at the shambles of the candidate list. All will have family and friends voting for them. The proportionate few who might vote for Hamish could be taken as indication of the actual minority who care about the smoking ban.
F2C are not supporting Hamish but instead have written a brilliant open letter to David Davis while there is still time for him to reconsider his stand. Please see it below.
http://www.freedom2choose.info/news1.php?id=726
When I first saw that Hamish was standing in this by-election, I wished him well, as I did again in person when I met him at Boisdales on Tuesday.
I know that he isn't going to shake any feathers, but he might just make a few people sit up and start taking notice of the "minority" group that he is trying to represent, i.e us!
We all talk about what should and should not be done, but it takes real guts and determination to make a stand on your principals like Hamish is doing, and for that reason alone, we should all congratulate him and wish him well.
As most of you already no doubt know, I am a Conservative, and as such, want David Davis to win, as no doubt he will, but if anyone expects Mr Davis to stick his head above the parapet, and risk a backlash against the Conservative Party with a General Election hovering in the background, I think they are in for a very long wait.
I am not a politician, but I know that if I were in David Davis's position, or indeed, David Cameron's position, I would certainly let someone else test out the water before I leapt in headfirst.
We have all read the constant propaganda put out by the Government on the smoking ban, telling us how everyone loves the ban, and how we would like to see it enforced even more.
Put yourself in David Davis's place, and ask yourself, what you do, he must be asking himself, could some of this actually be true, and if it is, would he be risking his safe seat by going against public opinion on the matter?
As we all know, most politicians promise us the earth when they are electioneering, but when they get into power, many of their promises are dropped by the wayside. Well it can also work the other way round, keep quiet about certain things, and implement them when in power and the time is right.
This is why I would like to see Hamish do well, the same as I said on another thread about UKIP. If either Hamish or UKIP could command a substantial amount of votes, based upon a strong amend the ban policy, it could just give our main three political parties the impetus they need to push for this themselves.
Go for it Hamish, and good luck to you once again.
Thank you Peter, that last paragraph is exactly what I was trying to say.
Do we need our Fireball XL5s now (Mr PT) Yes like yesterday. If the intellectual and intellegent people on this site had the capicity and will to get the act together the Antis would be wiped off the face of the Earth.
Think about it.
A combined mixture of fireballs and close steady people. Deadly !!
Unfortunately, this is precisely the inane circus I envisaged. Being caught up in this farrago may even harm David Davis (though I fervently hope not), whereas Hamish and his message will be simply and smoothly effaced by the MSM. I hate to say 'I told you so', but I did.