Date published: 2005/03/07
The BBC says:
Peers have defeated the government over its anti-terror bill, voting by 249 to 119 to ensure all control orders will be made by courts and not ministers.
The government had wanted only the more serious control orders involving house arrest to be overseen by judges.
Among 20 Labour rebels was ex-Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine - Tony Blair's boss when he was studying for the Bar.
It's a sad state of affairs when the unelected House of Lords is the only body standing in the way of a proposed law which gives the UK executive the authority to lock anybody up without charge and without due process. The elected House of Commons is pathetically shameful in comparison. The fact that Blair's buddy Irvine (who amongst other things introduced Blair to his wife) voted against Blair is the most telling blow. "Et tu, Brute?" You might hope that Blair would get the hint, but unfortunately his messianic style will mean he will continue to pursue the original course. Only the Labour parliamentary party will be able to kill Blair off, and that will not happen this side of the election (and perhaps not even after the election, since Blair is likely to win big again). Blair is easily the biggest threat to democracy in the UK.
_________________________________________________________
All material not included from other sources is copyright cambridge2000.com.
For further information or questions email: info [at] cambridge2000 [dot] com
(replace "[at]" with "@" and "[dot]" with ".").