THE GUARDIAN – LEADER: Like a suitor who is not deterred by past rejections, Gordon Brown went to the Commons yesterday to propose that his government should be granted new powers to deal with terrorism suspects. It is less than two years since the house defeated plans for 90-day detention, but Mr Brown made a fresh pitch with great skill. In place of the melodramatic rhetoric of the last prime minister - who casually brushed aside concerns about liberty with the chilling assertion that "the rules of the game have changed" - his successor accepted the delicate balance between security and liberty. He declined to make a totem, as Tony Blair had, of 90 days - or of any other limit. Instead he claimed that while he believed the current 28-day limit should increase, he wanted to see this achieved with as much consensus as possible.
The desire to avoid looking partisan was taken to extraordinary heights, with Mr Brown making a brazen grab for one policy long championed by the Conservatives - a single border force, encompassing customs and immigration officials. In practice, the new force is not what the opposition envisaged, as it excludes the police. But the move deprives the Tories of one of their distinctive offerings on security, increasing the pressure on them to restore their tough-on-terror credentials by falling into line with ministers on pre-trial detention. The shadow home secretary, David Davis, a sceptic of state control, helped to engineer the defeat of 90-day detention last time. Whether his party will feel able to stick to the principle this time, given that ministers have adopted a less overtly draconian tone, remains to be seen. Taking liberties (more)
Mark Alexander
