The news that Theresa May will fly to Jordan to continue talks about Abu Qatada shows how close the government thinks it is to a deal with the Jordanians that might satisfy the European Court of Human Rights and allow his deportation. One government source explained to me earlier that the problem is the Jordanians are offended by being asked to provide these guarantees about a fair trial and no evidence being obtained by torture. For this reason, there needs to be a fair amount of diplomatic stroking.
A deal with Jordan on Abu Qatada is becoming increasingly necessary if Cameron is get out of this bind on the ECHR, with the Lib Dems on one side and the Tory right on the other. Already, senior Tory MPs are muttering about why does Britain not just suspend its membership of the ECHR, deport these people and then re-join.
But, as I said in the magazine a few
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