David Davis: British freedoms are far more precious than the career of any single politician

David Davis explains why he resigned to fight a by-election on civil liberty issues, and calls for your support in his campaign.

The Austrian Chancellor Metternich was once told of the death of a rival. "I wonder what did he mean by that?" was his response.

If Metternich were alive today he might have enjoyed a second career as a Westminster commentator. He would certainly have been able to give full rein to his thirst for the conspiracy theory, rumour, gossip and wild speculation. No story need be constrained by the dreary recitation of the facts. Instead, it can be spiced up spectacularly by all manner of guesses, intrigues and sinister motives. Welcome to the Westminster Village circa 2008.

Now I haven't died. I have simply resigned from the Shadow Cabinet and as an MP to fight a by-election on what I regard as the most important issue facing the country: as I put it in my resignation statement, the "slow strangulation" by this Labour Government of British fundamental freedoms and liberties, stretching back 800 years.

My conduct may seem eccentric in the eyes of some - but my motive is plain and simple. I have deliberately embarked upon an unorthodox course of action to dramatise the damage being done to the country I love, the mother of democracies, by the Government's cavalier disregard for the liberties we have fought for down the centuries.