Everyone says it was a crazy thing to do but I absolutely loved it. Indeed my only regret is that David Davis was not sitting on a white charger when he made his announcement to the nation. Well, OK, so it was to a scrum of hacks. But I am sure DD did not see it that way. For he was in poetic mode and so he would have seen, in our eyes and lenses, the very nation itself reflected, not to mention a series of tiny images of himself.

That pleased him. For at this moment DD was as he’d always wanted to be: a man of principle, a man standing for good against evil, hope against horror, freedom against repression. DD tossed his hair. God, it felt good to be this good. No, actually, this wasn’t just good. It was great. This was history.

We were agape. DD had given us eight minutes’ notice and we’d rushed to the front entrance of Parliament by 1pm. The rumour was that he was resigning. The day before he’d led the charge against 42 days. He’d lost the vote but won the argument. So why would he go? Was he ill? Angry? Crazy?

His entrance was pure Hollywood, his rangy frame appearing in the St Stephen’s entrance arch flanked by statues of the Lion and Unicorn. It looked good, though it would have been better, obviously, if he’d had the white charger. I understand he had toyed with the idea of wearing armour but was unable to purchase a Sword of Truth on eBay.

Still, a truly great man doesn’t need all those props. We didn’t need a horse and a costume to see that this was a modern Sir Galahad. DD’s constituency is named Haltemprice & Howden. “Haltemprice is derived from a medieval proverb meaning ‘noble endeavour’,” he said. That was how he had seen the job as an MP.

“For centuries we defended the freedoms of the British people,” he noted, adding ruefully: “Well, we did up until yesterday . . . ”

It was, truly, just like a movie. And then, just as someone (Tom Hanks?) would have done, he said: “This Sunday is the anniversary of Magna Carta, the document that guarantees that fundamental of British freedoms, habeas corpus, the right not to be imprisoned by the State without charge or reason. Yesterday this House decided to allow the State to lock up potentially innocent citizens for six weeks without charge.”

I longed for a swelling soundtrack. DD let rip about the Government’s “insidious” erosion of freedoms. They wouldn’t stop at 42 days, he said, eventually it will be 90. “This cannot go on, ” he announced. “It must be stopped and for that reason today I feel it is incumbent on me to take a stand.”

And then he resigned. Yes, just like in a movie. He was quitting to fight for right. “I will not fight it on my personal record. I am just a piece in this great chess game,” he said (of course, I thought, a knight). “I will fight it, I will argue, against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms.”

He was in full flow. “And if they do send me back here it will be with a single, simple message: that the monstrosity of a law that we passed yesterday will not stand!”

Then he turned and left. Just like a movie. Absolutely great stuff. I’m giving it four stars.

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