David Davis 2008 by-election campaign

The campaign was initiated in June 2008, following Davis's surprise resignation as an MP and from his position as the Shadow Home Secretary, and was the platform he used in standing for re-election to his seat in the subsequent Haltemprice and Howden by-election.

Davis's resignation followed a parliamentary vote on the Counter-Terrorism Bill, which would extend the maximum detention of terror suspects without charge from 28 to 42 days.

Announcing his resignation, he stated his intention to spark a wider public debate on the erosion of civil liberties by the incumbent Labour government, and specifically the policies of the prime-minister Gordon Brown.

The campaign was also questioned because Davis's opinions prior to his resignation were in line with those of his party, where, as Shadow Home Secretary, he was in a good position to effect change should the Conservatives win the next general election, predicted for 2010.

Late on the night of 11 June 2008, a parliamentary vote was held on whether to extend the limit on the period of detention of terror suspects without charge in England and Wales, from 28 to 42 days.

The issue had been a contentious one in the media in the preceding weeks, with the prime-minister urging for the extension, following past dropped proposals of 90 days, as being a vital tool in the protection of the British public, in the War on Terrorism.

Speaking after his resignation, Davis stated that he intended to induce a wider public debate, and stop "the insidious and relentless erosion of civil liberties in Britain", in which the detention vote was a "watershed" in the debate, which also encompassed recent legislation about the increased use of CCTV, the Identity Cards Act 2006 and the expansion of the DNA database, which represented "the slow strangulation of fundamental freedoms by this government".

His resignation speech[3] came on the back of a similar newspaper column[4] written by previous Conservative Prime Minister John Major a week earlier.

[13] On 20 June, in an appearance on the panel of Question Time, Davis conceded that he was unlikely to be "offered his job (in the shadow cabinet) back" and the likely setback to his political career was a "cost he would have to bear" as a result of his decision to resign.

Many media commentators have poured scorn on Davis for precipitating an unnecessary by-election, characterising his actions as "quixotic", "egotistical" or even "mad".