David Davis was returned to the Commons this morning to carry on his one-man crusade to protect civil liberties after emerging triumphant at the Haltemprice and Howden by-election.

The former Shadow Home Secretary easily won the contest, which was called after he resigned his seat in protest the day after the Government won the Commons vote to extend pre-charge detention to 42 days.

On a higher-than-expected turnout of 34.5 per cent and with a record number of candidates for a by-election, Mr Davis secured 17,113 votes. The Green Party candidate, Shan Oakes, came a distant second with 1,758 with the English Democrat candidate Joanne Robinson third with 1,714.

In a field of 26 candidates there was a tie for last place with Norman Scarth and Tony Farnon, both independents, polling eight votes each.

Mr Davis said that the size of the turnout justified his decision to force the poll, adding that he had been given a “stonking mandate" and that a "stunning" message had been delivered to the Government.

He said: “They turned out for the cause — the erosion of freedom in this country. It is probably the first issue by-election in modern times and it has galvanised interest.”

Friends said that he was determined not to be fettered by David Cameron on his return to the Commons and would seek to lead opposition to the Government’s pre-charge detention proposals from the back benches.

His return presents Mr Cameron with the difficulty of how to handle the man he beat to become the Conservative leader in 2005. He had tried but failed to dissuade Mr Davis from quitting last month. He had hinted that he would find a role for Mr Davis when he returned. “He’s a big beast in the Tory jungle and he deserves to be a big part of the Conservative Party,” Mr Cameron said.

Later Tory sources were reported as suggesting that Mr Davis could be made a vice-chairman of the party in charge of a policy commission advising Mr Cameron on civil liberties.

Mr Davis neither expects nor wants an early return to the front bench. His allies say that he wants the “latitude” of operating on the back benches. An expert at the use of parliamentary procedure, he is preparing to mastermind a guerrilla campaign against the Counter-Terrorism Bill when it returns to the Commons later this year.

Relations between Mr Davis and his former Shadow Cabinet colleagues have been further strained by his campaign. Several who made the effort to travel to his East Yorkshire constituency returned with complaints about his conduct. On one occasion a group of frontbenchers arriving to help out were dismayed to learn that the candidate was in London attending a reception.

Mr Davis’s intention to use the by-election to focus attention on the issue of civil liberties foundered when Labour refused to field a candidate, saying that the poll was a stunt and a waste of more than £80,000 of public money. The Liberal Democrats gave Mr Davis a free run because they too opposed the Government’s plans to extend the time limit on holding terrorism suspects before being charged. The field filled with a record number of candidates, mostly marginal.

Mr Davis has accused Gordon Brown of being gutless and said that he should have used the by-election to argue the Government position. Among those who backed his campaign and attended debates in the constituency were Bob Geldof, the Iraq war veteran Colonel Tim Collins and the Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews.

Others contesting the election included Miss Great Britain, a losing contestant in the Eurovision song competition, Mad Cow-Girl from the Monster Raving Loonies and Bus Pass Elvis from the Church of the Militant Elvis Party. Mr Davis won the seat in 2005 with a majority of 5,116 when there was a 70 per cent turnout.

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