Tony Blair has suffered his first defeat after MPs rejected his plan to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days.
MPs rejected the plans by a bigger than expected margin of 322 votes to 291, before later backing a 28 day limit.
The defeat came despite Mr Blair saying MPs had a "duty" to support the police.
Tory leader Michael Howard said Mr Blair should resign after failing to "carry his party" but Downing Street says it was not a confidence issue.
Politicians doing their jobs? Wow. Perhaps this will inspire more than three lousy Democrat senators here in the US to actually do their jobs.
Yes, this was a great day for British democracy, when a PM can be defeated in what we call here a "whipped" vote. In spite of this victory, the period of detention without charge has actually double, with an option to review the law in 12 months (assuming the House of Lords approves of the 28 day, of course).
ReplyDeleteIt was about time too: Labour MPs were divided over the issue of going to war in Iraq, yet voted for it anyway, presurised by our president-style PM and his junta of "cabinet ministers".
Let's hope this really is the beginning of the end for what is seen as an increasingly autocratic goverment leader, Mr Blair (Prez Bliar).
Nice when they do their job, isn't it? Now if we can just see something similar over here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, btw. Appreciate the clarification.