Article: Home and dry, just; Detention without charge.(The government wins a pyrrhic victory)(counter-terrorism bill)

Whew, prime minister

Gordon Brown wins a Pyrrhic victory

IN THE end, the government was better at getting MPs to vote for its counter-terrorism bill than at making the case for it in the first place. Wavering backbenchers were seduced by phone calls from Gordon Brown, the usually aloof prime minister. David Miliband, the foreign secretary, was recalled from a trip to the Middle East. Some suggest that generous boondoggles were thrown at (among others) Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, whose nine MPs in effect decided the vote.

Whatever the means, though, the end was that on June 11th the House of Commons voted by a margin of 315 to 306 to extend the ...

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