MEDWAY MP Bob Marshall-Andrews has written to Tory David Davis offering his support as he prepares for his forthcoming by-election.

Mr Davis, the shadow home secretary, stunned Parliament when he quit as an MP over the issue of holding terror suspects for 42 days.

He said he wanted to fight the by-election to regain his seat on the civil liberties issue.

Labour’s Mr Marshall-Andrews is an avid campaigner on this subject.

He said: “I’ve written to him inviting myself to speak on civil liberty issues and would be delighted to do so.”

Labour has not yet announced whether it will put up a candidate in the by-election, which would affect a decision on whether Mr Marshall-Andrews has broken party rules by offering support to Mr Davis.

But defiant Mr Marshall Andrews added: “I feel strongly about civil liberties and if speaking out costs me the whip, then so be it.”

And he said he hoped other Labour MPs would join Mr Davis’s one-man crusade for civil liberties.

Mr Marshall-Andrews, who has never been afraid to stand up against the government, told the Observer newspaper today: “They can’t muzzle the whole of the party, and it seems to me foolish in the extreme in the present climate to start describing civil liberties as a stunt.

“I have had emails asking, “Why does it take a Tory to say this”?’