You cannot trust the Tories with our liberties

In last week's House Points I wrote about home office questions. One thing I did not have space to write about was a question from Jeremy Wright, the Tory MP for Rugby and Kenilworth:

Does the Minister agree that if there is a good argument for the retention of DNA samples in the circumstances that we are describing, it would be far better for the Government to make the argument for a comprehensive DNA database straightforwardly to the House and the wider public, so that we could debate the merits of the proposal?

Last year I wrote that "'Calling for a debate' is what people do nowadays when they hold an opinion but are afraid to express it." This seems a clear example of that phenomenon.

Some Conservatives, such as David Davis, are instinctive civil libertarians, and David Cameron has seen the tactical sense in dragging the party back to a position where it can appeal to liberal-minded voters.

But I suspect that Jeremy Wright speaks for many other obscure figures on Cameron's backbenchers when he implicitly supports a compulsory national DNA database. Which is why I would not trust the Tories with our liberties.