 | « Back to article | Print this article |
In a major setback to his authority, British Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered a defeat on Wednesday when the Parliament rejected his controversial draft legislation allowing police to hold terror suspects without charge for 90 days.
The House of Commons defeated the measure by 322 votes to 291.
The defeat is a severe blow to the authority of Blair, who had made the legislation a prestigious issue. The House later backed a compromise detention time limit of 28 days, which was earlier suggested by opposition Conservative Members of Parliament.
The vote, in which there were 50 abstentions also, does not mean Blair will have to stand down as prime minister, since Labour has a majority of 66 over other parties in the Commons.
Labour sources said the party's whips had miscalculated the scale of the 'back-bench revolt' and the numbers of Conservative MPs who might break ranks with the opposition and support the government.
Blair had himself admitted he could lose the vote and said it was a test of leadership for all MPs. In his final plea to them to back the plans, Blair had urged the lawmakers to take the advice of the police who had foiled two terrorist plots since the 7 July attacks in London.
"We are not living in a police state but we are living in a country that faces a real and serious threat of terrorism," he said, but added, "Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing."
Conservative leader Michael Howard said he thought Blair should resign after failing to 'carry his party'. Liberal Democrat frontbencher Simon Hughes said the defeat marked a 'momentous day', which could bring forward Blair's departure from office.
"It was a major error of judgement and it undermines Mr Blair's chances of staying on," Hughes was quoted as saying by the BBC. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and some Labour backbenchers said the 90-day plans went too far. Civil liberties groups had compared the proposal to internment.