Blair stands firm after terror defeat
Tony Blair has vowed to press ahead with his reforms of public services despite last night’s Commons defeat over the government’s anti-terrorism laws.
However, during a meeting with the cabinet this morning, the prime minister admitted the defeat highlighted “a worrying gap” between the views of MPs and those of the public.
The cabinet felt disappointed by the result but stood united in believing it had been right to hold a vote, his official spokesman said.
And he insisted Mr Blair would push ahead with planned reform in health, education and welfare, saying “the cabinet believe their manifesto commitments”.
MPs yesterday voted 322 to 291 to reject the prime minister’s plans to extend the time police can hold terrorist suspects without charge to 90 days – the first such defeat since Labour came to power eight years ago.
Last night Mr Blair expressed disbelief at the result, but insisted that he still believed he was right to back the plans.
“We know there is a terrorist threat there and the police are telling us, because of the special danger of this type of terrorism, they need to detain people for longer even though they have to go back in front of a court every seven days to justify,” he said.
“It think it is the right thing to do to put this before parliament, but as I said earlier today, it is better sometimes to lose doing the right thing, than to win doing the wrong thing.”
The Association of Police Officers (Acpo) last night issued a statement saying it was “disappointed” with the result, adding: “Professionals and experts in this area felt that this provided the most effective way of dealing with the current terrorist threat.”
However, backbench MPs were jubilant at what they saw as a resurgence of the power of the Commons over the executive – 49 Labour MPs joined with the Tories and the Lib Dems in voting against the measure.
“This is a triumph for common sense,” said Labour backbencher Glenda Jackson.
She said that the government’s failure to accept a compromise on the 90-day period, despite home secretary Charles Clarke indicating this would happen last week, was the reason behind their defeat. MPs eventually agreed on an extended time limit of 28 days.
“The prime minister did not allow the home secretary to deliver on what he told us what would happen last week, namely that he would come back with a vastly reduced number, because the prime minister wanted to show us how tough he was,” she said.
Former international development secretary Clare Short said: “Tony Blair wanted to pose as the macho guy, being even more right-wing than the Tories. We all know Charles Clarke wanted to make concessions.”
Former health secretary Frank Dobson also expressed his belief that had the government been prepared to compromise, the vote would have gone in his favour.
“I think the police asked for three months thinking they would get six weeks, and if the government had kept its promise and come up with a compromise, that vote might have gone through,” he said.
Speaking this morning, however, Mr Clarke insisted the government believed it had the support to win the vote on 90-day detention, saying there was a “very strong range of opinion” among Labour MPs earlier in the week that this was the right thing to do.
He rejected suggestions that Mr Blair had forced him into rejecting a compromise, saying: “The prime minister was very clear and explicit to me in that he said it was my call to decide what to do.”
And he insisted the defeat was not a significant set back for the government, saying: “On any given issue, in this case the 90-day detention proposal, the fact that we failed to get it through indicates that our authority wasn’t enough to carry it.
“Then when people say, does this have an implication for more general authority across the government or in my personal case for the Home Office, I don’t think it does.”
