Defeat for Blair

Well, well, how could someone with a majority of 66 in Parliament actually ended losing a vote on a bill by 31? That is the question that everyone had been asking since Tony Blair's bill on right of detention of 90 days got thrown out the House of Commons. His intention to extend the right for police to detain anyone suspected of terrorism from the existing 14 days to 90 days was good but somehow the selling did not went well. His authoritative Home Secretary Charles Clarke have been made a scapegoat for this incident and it is surprising that he is still in the job.

Actually the defeat has been brewing for quite some time. The bill on university reforms were nearly thrown out as well but he manage to squeak past. With his decrease in majority after the General Election in May, it was a wrong time to launched this reformed terror bill. Public sentiments were high after the July 7 bombing and I am sure if the MPs cancelled their summer holidays to talk about this reforms, it would have been passed.

So what this spell for Mr Blair? Already his favourite lackey David Blunkett had resigned the previous week (his second resignation in less than a year) due to his lack of revelations in him holding shares in a public company while he was still an MP. The week could not seem to get worse. The only fortunate bit apart his misfortunes is that the Conservatives are busy finding a new leader. If the new pretender David Cameron can be crowned before Christmas, I am sure he will hammer Blair. A cabinet re-shuffle seems iminent with the Home Secretary looking the most vulnerable. David Blunkett's former portfolio of pensions and work affairs have seen their 4th Secretary of State in less than a year, a portfolio which had gotten more and more profile due to the ageing population.

So to sum up, British politics seems to only getting more and more interesting!