As a cabinet minister Mr Davis will be required to support Mrs May’s flagship surveillance proposal, the Investigatory Powers Bill

The fiercest critic of the government’s far-reaching surveillance legislation abandoned his public campaign of opposition yesterday after entering the cabinet.

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, withdrew his name from a European court challenge to emergency laws on the state’s powers to spy on phone and messaging data, which Theresa May rushed through parliament in 2014 as home secretary.

The advocate-general of the European Court of Justice will give a preliminary ruling today on a case brought by Mr Davis with Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson against the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (Dripa).

By taking a seat around Mrs May’s Cabinet table, Mr Davis will also be required to support her flagship surveillance proposal, the Investigatory Powers Bill or “snooper’s charter”, of which he