LONDON, November 9 – Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom suffered a costly defeat today at the vote on a new anti-terror law. The proposal was rejected by the House of Commons while Blair earlier stressed that his personal authority was at stake.
The proposed law which would allow terrorism suspects to be detained for 90 days without any charge was voted off by 322 – 291 which means a majority of 31 votes. Of those 322 no-votes 41 were from Blair’s own party, the Labour Party. This was actually the first defeat since Tony Blair took charge of the Labour party in 1997. Apparently many of his supporters have given up on him, even in his own party.
Many believe that this defeat is thanks to his misleading campaign for the war in Iraq in 2003. The country went to war on inconclusive and even false information provided by the security services, whether Blair knew this is still unknown but widely accepted. Fear struck that this new advice from security services to develop such a law would lead to a similar, unwanted outcome. It also resembles the lack of trust in the current leader of the UK in light of future elections, it is almost inevitable that Blair will not manage to win the coming elections in his current state.
Current laws warrant for 14 days of detention without any charges and security services asked for an expansion because the new form of terrorism facing the country would warrant this. Lawyers and Labour members immediately showed concern for civil rights, claiming that this would turn Britain into a police state. It seems that this concern has won, in combination with the lack of trust in Blair’s affairs.
