Portrait of the Week – 19 November 2005

There was much speculation about the import of the government’s defeat, its first since it came to office in 1997, on a vote on the Terrorism Bill by 322 votes to 291, despite the jetting back from Israel of Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had only got as far in his visit as Tel Aviv airport. Some 49 Labour MPs voted against the provision to allow 90 days’ detention without trial; an amendment was then passed limiting detention to 28 days. Some commentators saw the defeat as a straw in the wind for the last days of Mr Tony Blair as Prime Minister; others wondered how he’d get on with his reforms of the health and education systems. Another bone of contention was the campaign by Mr Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, to get chief constables to offer MPs advice in favour of the Bill. Private companies should be allowed to compete to run poorly performing colleges of further education, according to a report commissioned by the government from Sir Andrew Foster, the former head of the Audit Commission.