Gordon Brown may be jealous of the fuss about David Davis. Ever since DD resigned in a blaze of something close to glory (or madness), he has been getting loads of attention. Gordon must be furious for yesterday he fought back with a speech entitled “Why I Love Liberty More than David Davis”. OK, so it was called “Liberty and Security” but my title is more accurate.

Gordon Brown, freedom fighter. That's the idea, I think. Such an important launch had to be tightly controlled. You cannot go launching a crusade on liberty before any old riff-raff. So he invited about 50 of his closest friends from the centre-left IPPR think-tank to applaud (oops, listen). The venue was one of those grand old buildings in Westminster. The last time I was there was a few years ago when David Davis held a launch for the Tory leadership. That ended in failure. I do hope Gordon has more luck. Still, spooky or what?

DD seemed to be haunting the whole event. As the Prime Minister entered the building, James Landale, freedom fighter for BBC 24, attacked. “Why isn't Labour standing against David Davis?” he asked. “Are you afraid of a debate on terror?”

The PM swept by. He must have been thinking how pathetic it was. Here he was, a fearless freedom fighter, and all the media cared about was DD. Gordon wants to “write a new chapter in our country's story”. We need 21st-century methods to fight 21st-century challenges. (I'm not sure what this has to do with 42 days, although 21 does go into it twice.) “There is a British way of meeting this challenge,” said Gordon. “The British way cannot be a head-in-the-sand approach that ignores the fact that the world has changed.”

Head in the sand? DD, I think he's talking about you. Actually the whole speech was about DD, although he was never named. Gordon explained the British way of meeting this challenge, which is more CCTV, ID cards, biometrics, DNA databases and 42 days of detention. (If it's all so 21st-century, how did Orwell know so much about it? Also, 42 times two is 84.)

“We must advance towards this open society with our eyes wide open,” said Gordon, who loves a good cliché. We shouldn't worry about liberty because he loves freedom. “We have in the last year sought to do more to extend freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press and freedom of information.”

He then refused to answer questions from the press. Obviously. Still, he took a few from the floor and even one from Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty. I am surprised that she was allowed in. There is a rumour that DD resigned after being “bewitched” by Shami. She denies this, but then she would.

Afterwards Gordon swept out on to the street, which held the irritating James Landale. “Why won't you stand against David Davis?” cried James. “Are you afraid?” Gordon refused to turn towards his car, for that would mean more contact with BBC questions. Instead, without looking, he veered into the street. His security men scurried alongside. The PM jaywalked. Actually it was more like jay-running. It's the kind of thing that freedom fighters do.

Times Recommends

• Tree stump 'shows image of Virgin Mary'
• BBC drops Strictly judge for younger model
• Trafalgar Square 'reduced to a spectacle'