no luck for blair
I must say I'd talked myself into thinking that Blair would win today's vote on being able to lock up foreign-looking people forever without trial, but even in my hopeful moments I didn't think he'd lose by 31 votes. Well, he has, which is pretty amazing. I'm not bothered about Blair being given a bloody nose, but this is a rebellion on an unprecedented scale - what happened to Labour MPs being afraid of challenging their leader? That he had to deny that he will quit is pretty momentous stuff. Blimey. Most important is that a crummy bit of legislation failed. Good.
· 291 vote for 90-day amendment; 322 against
· 49 Labour MPs rebel
· Commons backs 28-day detention by 323-290
· PM must 'consider position' - Howard
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2 comments:
28 days still pretty shitty though, no?
Well, yeah, I think so - plucking stupid arbitrary numbers out of the air is always shitty, whether it's 28, 42, 60 or 90. The basic principle should still be that in this country you are imprisoned as a consequence of the charge which has been levelled at you.
28 days is probably unnecessary and certainly unappealing but better than the worst option, I suppose. With this government we've had to learn to be grateful for small mercies...
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