Friday, May 16, 2008

Brown signals retreat on 42 day detention

Gordon Brown appears to be at last willing to signal a retreat from his demand that parliament either gives him his 42 day detention bill for suspected terrorists or he is willing to accept a Commons defeat on the issue.

Maybe it's the fact that things have been going south for him recently that has forced him to reconsider this madness, but it's welcome nevertheless.

Despite repeated claims that he is willing to lose and be right, the prime minister has despatched his chief whip, Geoff Hoon, to broker an agreement that would prevent a damaging split inside his party.

Hoon, a lawyer, is working alongside the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and Home Office minister Tony McNulty to secure a deal. He is understood to have the support of the justice secretary, Jack Straw.

An outline of the deal being discussed centres on the parliamentary trigger before the power to detain for as long as 42 days comes into force.

A version being talked about in the senior echelons of the cabinet includes:

· The government would have to declare that there is an "exceptional need" to use the power. Although that has not been defined, the circumstances could include the discovery of multiple terrorist plots, or in the aftermath of an atrocity.

· Authorisation by parliament within a short period, possibly seven days.

· Judicial review of the use of the power.

I have never understood why Brown, who we all hoped would govern as a Labour Prime Minster after all the years of Blairism, has chosen to continue Blair's legacy on the subject of terrorism.

This was contentious stuff when Blair was proposing it, quite how Gordon - of whom we all had higher hopes - could have hoped to push it through was always beyond me.

The war on terror has often made the terms right and left simply inapplicable, as the argument has moved to whether one is willing to give up one's basic rights to supposedly increase one's security or whether one is not.

I am firmly in the camp of Benjamin Franklin who said, "Those who would sacrifice a little liberty for a perceived increase in security, deserve neither - and will eventually lose both."

I find it bizarre that in any war which is supposedly about preserving my way of life, that I must first give up my basic rights in order to preserve them. I am greatly disappointed that Gordon doesn't appear to get that.

He's pulling back from the brink, but it's not because he agrees, it's because he knows he's going to lose of he pushes on.

However, there is something heartening about the way the Labour Party have refound their ability to stand up to the Prime Minister and demand that he changes course. It's almost like we live in a democracy or something.

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