David Davis officially resigned his seat today, triggering a by-election in Haltemprice and Howden on July 10.

Speaking on the steps of the Treasury where he submitted his resignation letter, the former Shadow Home Secretary insisted he had no regrets and challenged Gordon Brown to put up a Labour candidate for the forthcoming contest.

He added: “If he doesn’t do so, the British people will see him as gutless.”

But the Labour Party confirmed today that it will not fight the election, which Mr Davis has precipitated as a single-issue referendum on the Government's plans to allow terror suspects to be held for up to 42 days without charge and other civil liberty issues.

Since the Liberal Democrats have also decided not to contest the by-election - although officially because they support Mr Davis's stance - it means that the former SAS reservist is likely to face a ragtag list of opponents including a fruit-and-veg trader, a pub landlord who opposes the smoking ban, a political author and the current holder of the Miss Great Britain title.

Under parliamentary procedure, Mr Davis was forced to apply to the office of the Chancellor for a sinecure as Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern in order to be able to resign from the Commons. He becomes the first person appointed to that post since Tony Blair resigned his Sedgefield seat last June after leaving No 10.

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