Only the whim of history and its authors will decide whether David Davis’s quixotic electoral insurrection under the banner of civil liberties will rank as a defining moment in the development of British political culture, or as the last hurrah of a frustrated, ambitious man. But whatever the case, it will prove to be the latest step in the process by which the conservative political tradition has brought forth the most coherent, the most determined and the most ideologically grounded opposition to the erosion of traditional freedoms.

It forms part of the ongoing rehabilitation of the conservative “brand” in the eyes of the public and a notable renaissance of the intellectual traditions of the Right, which has historically favoured limitations on the State’s remit and powers.

Although I personally don’t share his opposition to 42-day detention, I admire Davis’s stand and believe his actions are (at least predominantly) altruistic. But if they are to bear fruit, he and his party must ensure that conservatism of values does not ossify into conservatism of forms. In particular, conservatives must re-evaluate their hostility to a codified constitution; a hostility predicated on a preference for giving full and unfettered force to the electorally-expressed will of the people.

In the modern age, with Parliament increasingly impotent to counterweigh the executive and mass-media political reporting degenerating into a succession of personalised celebrity stories, this fine ideal no longer plays out in practice. The prospect of an election within two years clearly is not frightening Labour or enough of its MPs into opposing further attacks on Habeas Corpus, because the penalties and rewards dispensed by the executive are a more powerful and more immediate influence.

A written constitution could entrench our historic liberties and take them above the fray of party politics. Although it runs counter to the traditional line of conservative thinking, it is a possibility that must not be dismissed out of instinctive unease, but must be taken seriously as a modern means to protect an ancient heritage.