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.
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