British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s authority was thrown into doubt on Wednesday after his attempt to toughen up Britain’s anti-terror laws in the wake of the London bombings was roundly defeated in Parliament.
It was the first time in his eight years in power that Blair had been humiliated in the House of Commons, with no less than 49 members of his own Labour Party joining the opposition to water down the Terrorism Bill.
Speculation immediately swirled over how long Blair will be able to act effectively, or even how long he can stay in office, particularly with controversial health and education reforms in the pipeline.
”I don’t think it’s a matter of my authority,” Blair told BBC television, putting on a brave face after one of his blackest days in politics. ”Of course, I would have preferred to have won rather than lost.”
But the main opposition Conservative leader, Michael Howard, said: ”Mr Blair’s authority has been diminished almost to vanishing point. This vote shows he is no longer able to carry his own party with him.
”He must now consider his position.”
By a vote of 322-291, the Commons rejected Blair’s hard-fought proposal that police be given the power to hold terrorism suspects for 90 days without charge — far longer than the current 14 days.
Instead, they opted for an amendment that would only double the period to 28 days, subject to weekly approvals from a high-court judge.
Other aspects of the legislation include a ban on glorifying terrorism, selling extremist books, receiving or providing terrorist training, or preparing to commit attacks.
The 90-day period had been sought by police chiefs, and firmly backed by Blair, to give officers more time to unravel complex evidence, such as encrypted computer files or forensic clues, while a suspect is in custody.
Civil libertarians, and many politicians, disagreed, despite the outrage that followed the July 7 attacks on three London subway trains and a double-decker bus that left 56 dead, including four apparent suicide bombers.
”I think people in this country will find it very odd that members of Parliament, given such a compelling and strong case by police, decided to ignore their recommendation and go for a period they thought of themselves without any particular justification for it,” Blair told the BBC.
Political analysts wondered how long Blair will be able to endure if Labour rebels, emboldened by Wednesday’s coup, turn against his attempt to extend more autonomy to state-run schools and free-care-for-all hospitals.
”I think one more defeat as serious as this, and that’s going to be the beginning of the end,” said Anthony Seldon, one of the prime minister’s biographers, on BBC television.
”Tony Blair no longer commands,” wrote columnist Peter Riddell in The Times newspaper. ”Teflon Tony is dead… [Wednesday’s] events have obviously raised questions about how long Mr Blair can stay in office.”
The vote in Parliament — one week to the day after David Blunkett, a long-time Blair ally, quit as work and pensions secretary amid a furore over his business interests — was dramatic.
Blair was in the jam-packed Commons chamber, having wound up talks at Downing Street with Chinese President Hu Jintao who has been paying a state visit to London since Tuesday.
So too were Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, seen by many as Blair’s heir apparent, and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. They both cut short engagements abroad to be in the Commons to shore up the government’s numbers. — AFP
