British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to be forced into a humiliating climbdown this week over his plans to detain terrorist suspects without charge for up to 90 days, despite the near unanimous backing of the police in the UK and the British general public.
In a letter to the Guardian, the chief constable of Greater Manchester and the senior member of the police terrorism committee, Michael Todd, bluntly warns that it is vital that their view is heard about the need for greater powers of detention of terror suspects.
Todd writes: "We have given that professional advice on one basis and one basis only, that these were the changes that professionals dir-ectly involved in the fight against terrorism felt were necessary to protect the people of this country from attack."
"That is the view not only of [London's] Metropolitan police, but of chief constables across the country and the terrorism committee that represents them," he writes.
His letter is unlikely to change enough backbenchers' minds for Blair to win a Commons vote tom-orrow, but it does pose questions for the Conservative leadership amid signs that some senior Tories feel they have been dragged into siding wholesale with civil liberties groups and against the security forces.
Blair -- who would hold his monthly press conference yesterday and address his critics in the parliamentary party last night -- remains strongly committed to the 90 days, claiming opponents of the reform are being "dangerously complacent" about the terrorist threat.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke, will also meet backbenchers as well as holding talks with opposition parties on a likely compromise of 28 days, described on Sunday as the "absolute outer limit of what is acceptable" by the shadow attorney general, Dominic Grieve.
A YouGov poll for Sky News shows overwhelming popular support for the government's position, with 72 percent believing the maximum detention time should be extended to 90 days. Of those, 41 percent said that it should be granted only with the approval of a senior judge. The government has already said extension should be authorized by a senior judge with appeal to the high court.
The poll found that 16 percent backed a proposal by rebel Labour members of parliament (MPs) to extend the current limit to 28 days.
The lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, indicated however that the government would have to give ground.
Former Cabinet minister Frank Dobson warned of a breakdown in trust inside the parliamentary party if Clarke and the whips reneged on their commitment last week to back down over the issue.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS