Premiership of Gordon Brown - 42-day Detention

42-day Detention

Following the rejection of a previous bill under Tony Blair's government to allow for terror suspects to be detained for up to 90 days without charge, Brown championed a new bill extending this pre-charge detention period to 42 days. The bill was met with opposition on both sides of the House and, facing a growing backbench rebellion, it is alleged that a number of deals were done behind the scenes to ensure a victory for Brown in the vote on this issue. In the end, the bill passed by just 9 votes. Many commentators view this as a Pyrrhic victory, as Brown had to rely upon the support of a renegade Conservative MP, Ann Widdecombe, and the votes of a handful of Democratic Unionist MPs. In a session of Prime Ministers' Questions some weeks later, David Cameron challenged Brown to concede on record that "no deals were done" in ensuring the bill was passed. Brown stood up before the House and gave a one-word response of "Yes". To uproar, Cameron proceeded to quote from a letter written by Geoff Hoon, Labour's Chief Whip, to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, Keith Vaz, in which Hoon expressed deep thanks for Vaz's support and in addition signed off the letter with the line "I trust that you will be appropriately rewarded." Hoon has claimed that this was just a joke between friends but others have viewed this letter as proof that deals were indeed done behind the scenes and that Brown was lying when he went on record as stating that no such deals were done. The House of Lords defeated the bill, with Lords characterising it as "fatally flawed, ill thought through and unnecessary", stating that "it seeks to further erode fundamental legal and civil rights".