Knighthood for 'the most rebellious serving Conservative MP'

Congratulations to Philip Davies MP, awarded a 'surprise knighthood' on the recommendation of Rishi Sunak.

As MPs go, Philip is one of the good guys. Elected as the member of parliament for Shipley in West Yorkshire in 2005, he has been a guest at several Forest events, including the annual Freedom Dinner that ran from 2012 to 2017.

He has also been a panellist at several other events, in London and at party conference.

The first time was at the Conservative conference in Birmingham in 2008 when he was on a panel with Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes), Alex Deane (Big Brother Watch), Claire Fox (Institute of Ideas), and me.

I can't remember what the discussion was about, but in June 2010 he joined us again for one of our Voices of Freedom debates at the Institute of Economic Affairs when we addressed the issue 'Big Government Is Watching You: the surveillance society and individual freedom'.

The event was co-hosted by The Free Society (an offshoot of Forest that ran from 2007 to 2013) and Big Brother Watch. I wrote about it here, noting that:

It was standing room only at our Voices of Freedom debate last night with around 60 people squeezed into the IEA conference room. Hosted by The Free Society and Big Brother Watch, the subject was 'Big Government is Watching You: the surveillance state and individual freedom"'.

Speakers included Phil Booth, national coordinator of NO2ID; Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch; and journalist Ross Clark, author of The Road to Southend Pier. (Ross used to write a regular column in The Spectator called 'Banned Wagon'. I reminded him that the last time we met, at a Spectator Summer Party, he invited me to play for his village cricket team!)

Best of all, perhaps, because it meant we had a proper debate, was Philip Davies MP who stirred things up with a passionate defence of surveillance cameras and other tools of what some might call the Big Brother state.

Indeed, things got a bit fiery as Alex Deane, in particular, responded like the former World Debating Champion he is.

Broadcaster Iain Dale, who was chairing the discussion, tweeted:

Philip Davies MP making superb anti civil liberties speech, even if I disagree with virtually all of it!

I didn't agree with much of what Philip said either but he did make me think, and I respected his argument which was, essentially, without surveillance cameras a lot of crimes will never be solved, and thugs and criminals will get away with all sorts.

The panel was very unbalanced and I admired the way he argued his corner. In fact, I think he enjoyed it.

Another thing I admire about Philip is that, although he freely admits he doesn't like smoking, he defends an adult's right to smoke, and as a member of parliament he has consistently voted against anti-smoking legislation, including the display ban and plain packaging.

He recently agreed to host a Forest event at the House of Commons that was part of the campaign against the generational smoking ban. Unfortunately he turned out to be double booked and another MP, Giles Watling, had to step in at the last moment, but the thought was there and Philip later confirmed his opposition to the policy.

Another reason I admire him is that, from day one, he made it clear that his ambition was to be a good constituency MP, rather than aim for higher office. I dare say this was driven, initially at least, by his small majority (just 422 in 2005), but he stuck to his guns even when his majority rose to a more comfortable 9,944 in 2010.

To be clear, I've no problem with MPs who actively aim for a role in government, but focusing on your constituents without the distraction of a second job is refreshing, to me at least.

It also gives you genuine independence which Philip has taken full advantage of. According to his Wikipedia entry, 'He is the most rebellious serving Conservative MP, having voted against the Tory whip over 250 times in the course of his parliamentary career'.

His knighthood, then, may surprise many people, not least the man himself!

PS. Alex Deane, the former director of Big Brother Watch who gave Philip such a hard time on surveillance cameras, was recently selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golder's Green.

Good luck to them both when the general election finally takes place.

Below (left to right): Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes), Alex Deane (Big Brother Watch), Claire Fox (Institute of Ideas), Philip Davies, and me at a fringe meeting organised by Forest at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham in October 2008