Political Reaction
Prior to the arrests, the plot was discussed at a high level of government, with then Prime Minister Tony Blair knowing about it for months, and alerting President George W. Bush to the investigation on Sunday 6 August 2006.
On 9 August, hours before the arrests, the then Home Secretary John Reid gave a major speech to Demos (a British think-tank) hinting at a new round of anti-terror legislation and claiming that the country was facing "probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war". The following day Reid broke the news along with Douglas Alexander, the Transport Secretary.
Read more about this topic: 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or reaction:
“The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)