Quentin Davis’ decision to defect to Labour is a shame but no disaster. He is a capable politician but not an exceptional one. Neither side of the House of Commons will really notice his movement, I suspect.
The timing of this statement can be no accident. The resignation letter to David Cameron that Davis has chosen to release looks as though it may well have had some input from the Labour press office. So I wonder if some of the commentators on ConservativeHome may have the wrong idea. This is not a statement about Europe from a die hard pro-European. There is more that binds members of the Tory Party together than that one issue. If that were not so, many more would have left during the Hague and IDS administrations.
There are several others there who comment on Davis’ failure to reach a top office and then wonder about whether he is about to make it to the Lords as a thank-you from the new PM.
I would suggest that with Gordon Brown stepping into those big shoes tomorrow and announcing a new series of ministers, Davis may be looking for a pay-off earlier than a retirement seat in the upper house. Brown has mentioned several times that he was hoping to draw in people from across the political spectrum and maybe this was his Tory. What’s more, the job he is rumoured to have offered Paddy Ashdown was as Northern Ireland Secretary. This is an area where Davis has worked before, having been shadow to that job under IDS, and perhaps he fancies a return to the active side of things.
We should not be worry about the wobble created by the move of Quentin Davis. Calm will resume shortly. Cameron has the Conservative Party set on broadly the right course and that will be rewarded at the ballot box.
Totally agree Tim. It’s always a shame but in the long term will not prove terribly significant. There are probably a few reasons why he has chosen to leave now (ministerial office/seat in the Lords) but his views on the EU as cause for defection are a tad overated.
I did rather like Cameron’s last line in his letter responding ‘we will watch your future career with interest’.
Comment by Lee Summers — 26 June, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
Absolutely right Tim. This isn’t about Europe. The EPP issue has not been well handled but that is not why QD crossed the floor. I wish that the Party (or certain sections of it) would calm down over Europe. The sight of Europhobes salivating does nothing to increase the Party’s wider appeal.
Comment by Victoria Roberts — 26 June, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
Nice comment on the previous post about whether Gordon Brown has any friends form Man in a Shed… http://toryreformgroup.wordpress.com/2007/06/18/does-gordon-have-any-friends/
Comment by Timothy Barnes — 26 June, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
It is a pity that a man who seemed to want the Tory Party to take a more centrist, One Nation direction has decided to kick in the teeth the first leader in ages to actually pursue that! David Cameron may have had some wobbles – grammar schools notably – but the general thrust of his leadership is in absolutely the right direction, and is based on a clear strategic vision firmly related to the views of, shock horror, the ordinary British voter. It is simply not true to say that he has no political vision – part of the controversy he stirs up is precisely because he does have a political vision which is fresh, and challenges many of the preconceptions we once held in the Tory Party. It demeans Quentin Davies to defect to Gordon Brown, who surely hardly stands for many of the things Davies himself has held dear in the past. It is also clear that, as with previous defections, this one will have no long-term impact. The key test for David Cameron remains how he responds to a reinvigorated Gordon Brown who has long shown the ability to spring surprises and dominate the political process. Davies really is only a footnote.
Comment by Giles Marshall — 26 June, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
I agree Tim, this is not about Europe at all.
To take this in a different direction, I wonder the general view on defections is? Should not the people of Grantham be allowed a by-election? After all they elected a Conservative and are now lumbered with a Labour MP!
Comment by Tim Crockford — 26 June, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
If there is to be a by election in Sedgefield once Blair goes, I think that Grantham should get one, too. However, given that Brown is once again thinking about an early election in which Davis would lose his seat anyway, perhaps the two events are already linked…
Comment by Timothy Barnes — 26 June, 2007 @ 6:07 pm