Strange Things Afoot With the Conservatives Methinks!!!

What on earth is going on with David Davis? I understand that he and the rest of his party might be a little upset with the outcome of the vote in parliament the other day, but why would anyone from the Conservative party resign over it. It would be understandably thatsomeone from the Labour party might consider stepping down if in disagreement but the Conservatives are in opposition. This logically means that they will oppose the governments stance and will be defeated on certain issues. If they resign, and risk by-election everytime they are defeated in the commons there is no chance they are ever going to gain any ground. Apart from everything else it almost seems a bit like Davis is throwing his dollies from the pram.

When I heard the news, I started thinking that this was a gesture by a politician who actually has morals and ethics; that he actually feels so strongly about this that he is prepared to give it all up for his beliefs. The longer I thought about it though, the more the nagging doubts and cynicism started to tug at me. David Davis is a man who has on two or three occasions so close to running the party that I can't help thinking that nothing he does is without careful planning and strategic political advantage. It didn't take me long to forget all possible altruistic possibilities (and there is only one) in favour for the possibility that this move can only be politically motivated. The problem I have is that for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the motive is!!!

The first idea was that he was simply doing it to prove that the conservatives were a party of conviction and that the positive vote was so bad that resignation was the only reasonable option. Then I realised that this was not right. The only reasonable option would be to stay put and campaign agaionst the government and defeat them at the next general election.

The second thought I had was that the conservatives wanted to force a by-election based on the vote in parliament which would give the people a chance to tell the government what they really thought about their terrorist and extended detention without charge policies. However any result would be negated by the fact that David Davis would presumably be campaigning for re-election in a safe conservative seat so there is no way that anyone could saliently argue that a win would be a knock at the government. They could be trying to keep up some kind of momentum in terms of beating Labour by-elections and thus try to force a general election but I don't think that Gordon is going anywhere near the polls until the last possible second and will not be pushed.

I wondered if Davis was looking for an opportunity to resign from the shaddow cabinet without making the party look divided and this provided him with the perfect opportunity. It is possible perhaps that Cameron wanted him out and rather than sack him, gave him an opportunity to go with dignity and without tearing the party to shreads.

Whatever the reason, I'm not sure I will ever find out. I cannot even wirk out who benefits and who suffers in this. One thing that seems to be emerging is that it hasn't done the conservatives any good. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it has done them any bad either. All that has happened is that I'm totally confused (doesn't take much to do that though!!!)