Blair defeated over terror laws

BBCreported Tony Blair says his authority is intact despite suffering his first House of Commons defeat as prime minister. He said he hoped MPs "do not rue the day" they rejected his call to allow police to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without charging them.

That is a very valid concern. The immediate problems in France and elsewhere in Europe are caused by failures of socialism, not jihadism, but as the jihadists see how week France and the others are in suppressing the riots they will quickly become emboldened to attack there as well, and the bombs in Jordan, and the discovered plot in Australia are certainly jihad, and they will exploit any percieved weakness.

MPs voted against by 322 votes to 291, with 49 Labour MPs rebelling. Tory leader Michael Howard said Mr Blair should resign. Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy warned Mr Blair could become a "lame duck" leader.

Gee, things in Britain are not that different from in the US. Power hungry people in the leaders own party are prepared to stab him in the back to get more power for themselves, and the opposition party is even more interested in doing him in. Hope Britain survives these long knives trying to stab Blair and the country at the same time.

Following the defeat MPs backed by 323 to 290 votes a Labour backbench MP's proposal to extend the detention time limit to 28 days, from the current 14 days.

So they recognize that they need more than 14 days, the question is only how long. I wonder if they are tieing Blairs hands on how he can treat the jihadists during the 28 days, since he does not have 90 days to sweat them.