Rob Wilson's Westminster Diary

Rob Wilson MP • Published 12 Jun 2008 11:30 0 Comments

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The thin veil of the war on terror is shattered

IT IS a statement of the blindingly obvious that the debate over whether British citizens should be detained without charge for six weeks is about the issue of security.

However, this is not an issue of national security but Our Great Leader's (OGL) job security.

Nobody who has looked at this issue objectively has seen persuasive evidence, indeed any real evidence, that 42 days' detention without charge is needed.

So why has OGL pursued this?

It's all about narrow personal political interest. OGL has dug himself a deep hole and he's looking at ways to get out of it.

This is a populist cause, a bit like the issue of hanging, where the public is behind the change because of its fear of another terrorist attack. OGL is using this fear to try to paint opposition parties as weak to make himself appear strong.

But how strong does he actually look? Around Westminster some Labour MPs, who are friends, have been telling me that they've had frantic phone calls from OGL himself or one of the Government whips.

The conversation, as reported to me, has essentially been a series of pleas not to bring the Prime Minister down and destroy Labour's chances of winning the next election.

Obviously I ribbed them that their best hope of recovery was to vote with us and bring the Prime Minister down! But it is slightly lame and rather pathetic that a serving British Prime Minister is forced to beg his backbenchers to save him rather than persuade them on the merits of the argument. I also teased them that they were fortunate not to be called at 6am like certain poor unsuspecting members of the public were!

What disturbs me most about this legislation is that it is now practically unworkable. If the Government needs 42 days' detention, it is now saying (as a concession) that Parliament will be recalled to debate it. This will mean, at the very least, we will need to know details of each individual case. If we debate the details of a case in public, how does the person concerned get a fair trial? It would be almost impossible wouldn't it?

Also the legislation will essentially target Muslims exclusively. Does the Government really believe that this would be a good idea? How much hatred and resentment do we want to build up in one section of the community? It certainly would be immensely unhelpful in my constituency!

This Prime Minister, OGL no less, is not making decisions that are good for the national interest, he makes his decisions on what is good for the Labour Party, but mostly what will keep him in office. This is the worst Prime Minister we have had for a very long time indeed and it will take a long time to put the country back together after he has long departed.

This blog appeared in Reading Chronicle 12 Jun 08

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