After the defeat

摘要

Immediately after the government's defeat over its controversial terror bill, there was a rush to write Tony Blair's obituary. It was not just that Mr Blair had been beaten in the House of Commons for the first time since he became prime minister in 1997. That in itself would have been remarkable given the government's working majority of 66 (or 71 if the non-voting Sinn Fein mps are excluded). What marked November 9th as such an important moment in British politics was the scale of the rebellion-49 Labour mps turned out against the government to defeat it by 31 votes-and Mr Blair's decision to stake his authority on what proved a hopeless cause. The legislation that Mr Blair wanted to pass had been in trouble ever since it was first mooted several months ago. After the July 7th terrorist bombings in London, the prime minister announced that he would be bringing forward new laws to help the police in their fight against terrorism (see overleaf). He would, he said, be seeking a consensus with other parties. This approach was widely welcomed, but it didn't last long.