Showboat flotilla: Geldof backs Davis

David Davis' calling of the first-ever Pyrrhic by-election has won the overblown backing of Bob Geldof:

“You are being asked to decide what kind of people you are and what kind of country you want.

“You are being asked to vote about us and you will probably never be asked to vote on something so profound again.”

“I was told David Davis was out on a limb on this one but it is the right limb to be on.

“It is a limb I am proud to join him on and it's the same limb William Wilberforce clambered out and perched himself on in this very town.

“This is not about the grotesqueness of slavery, but it is about justice, liberty and your rights.”

Forty Two days is a serious issue - as, of course, was the 28 days which Davis happily supported, and the suggestion that the State should have the right to kill convicted criminals, something which Davis believes in. But a parliamentary by-election with no serious opposition is not a way to test public opinion - for how are you supposed to vote if you oppose Conservative policy on other matters, but also stand against 42 Days? If you give your vote to Davis on 42 Days, on that principle, why has he not offered to not vote in any other division?

It's grandstanding, the right debate in the wrong forum. The appearance of Geldof merely adds more sideshows to a terrible circus.