Blair shot down while trying to make terror laws tougher
GOP Vixen
By Bridget on Foreign affairs
At first I was going to run the dignified Daily Telegraph version of this story, which focused heavily on whether Blair can stay at 10 Downing Street after his failed bid to hold terror suspects for 90 days without charges, but I prefer the adjectives in the Sun story better -- "Traitors defeat terror bill":
"Treacherous MPs betrayed the British people last night by rejecting new laws to combat terror.
They ignored the wishes of the vast majority of Britons and humiliated Tony Blair by inflicting his first Commons defeat.
Gutless Tory MPs were joined by up to 47 Labour rebels as they wrecked the PM’s bid to hold terror suspects for 90 days without charge.
The vote went against Mr Blair by 322 to 291. And the limit was slashed to just 28 days by an even bigger majority — despite police warnings this could leave the nation dangerously exposed to terrorists allowed to roam free."
The Sun highlights their article with sidebars of Winners -- Osama, al-Zarqawi, David Davis (shadow home secretary), Clare Short (anti-war former cabinet minister), Rev. Ian Paisley (DUP party leader), David Cameron (Tory leader wannabe) -- and Losers, all bombing victims or relatives.
The Telegraph story notes that 90 days wasn't a number Blair pulled out of thin air:
"... Mr Blair said it was his duty to support the police, who had asked for a 90-day period to allow them to collect the evidence needed to bring effective cases against terrorists.
... During angry exchanges at Prime Minister's Questions, (outgoing Conserative Party leader Michael) Howard argued that the Government had failed to justify the need for 90-day detention and said it could alienate ethnic communities."
And by the way, Blair says he's not going anywhere.
"Within an hour of the defeat, a shaken but unrepentant Mr Blair summoned the cameras to No 10 to declare that he had no intention of quitting. He said that public opinion was on his side and that Parliament had 'made the wrong decision - the country will think that Parliament has behaved in a deeply irresponsible way.'
Asked if he would quit, he said: 'Not on the back of this. It is better sometimes to lose doing the right thing than to win doing the wrong thing.'" |
