Britain: Conservative leader Michael Howard and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy last night accepted a compromise offer from Prime Minister Tony Blair to salvage the government's controversial anti-terror Bill.
And all sides claimed victory as the last-gasp deal - in which Mr Blair agreed to allow MPs to review the Bill in a year's time - ended more than 30 hours of parliamentary ping-pong between the Commons and the Lords in the most sustained battle of the Blair years between the elected and unelected chambers of the British parliament.
As the legislative clock ticked against existing detention powers due to expire at midnight tomorrow, home secretary Charles Clarke announced the final government concession as a new "positive course of action".
Assuming a Labour victory in the general election, Mr Clarke told MPs he would intend to launch a new counter-terrorism Bill this autumn, which would include proposals for a new offence covering acts preparatory to terrorism.
This would be published in draft form first to give MPs time to consider its contents.
At the same time MPs were promised the first report by the independent commissioner who will review the operation of the disputed control orders at the heart of the government's current Bill.
Crucially, Mr Clarke assured Conservative MPs, including former home secretary Kenneth Clarke, that all matters being debated could be considered afresh and amended as part of the new Bill.
Immediately after the home secretary had announced the plan in the Commons, Mr Blair told a Downing Street press conference that the move represented the government's best and last attempt to get its legislation on to the statute book.
If critics of the current Bill had "genuine concerns", said Mr Blair, "this way through meets it".
But in a clear warning to the Conservative leader, Mr Blair added: "If what they are actually doing is watering down the legislation in the interests of playing daft games with the nation's security, then this will flush it out."
Again signalling his readiness to see the issue fought out in the context of the upcoming election, Mr Blair insisted the Conservatives would be "making a big mistake" if they thought to push for further concessions.
And he insisted his only interest was to get on to the statute book legislation which the police and the security services insisted was necessary to protect the British people from terrorism.
However, Mr Howard promptly appeared before the cameras to accept Mr Blair's offer, which he said amounted to the "sunset clause" demanded by the Conservatives "in all but name".
Mr Blair maintained he had resisted and continued to resist the so-called sunset clause because to agree that the legislation would self-destruct on a given date would send the wrong signal to terrorists.
However, Mr Howard maintained he was always "more interested in the substance than the spin".
And he insisted: "He's agreed to a sunset clause in everything but name.
"Everyone agrees that terrorism is a real threat to our country - the point of difference has always been how we most effectively tackle it.
"If only he (Mr Blair) had been less arrogant, these sensible changes could have been agreed to in a quicker and more dignified manner."
Mr Kennedy also claimed the government had been forced to address "principled opposition" and suggested people outside parliament would see the outcome as "a public victory".
Some relieved Conservatives were privately doubtful about that.
They noted polls showing majority opinion on Mr Blair's side, and happy that the last-minute compromise meant the Conservative leadership could not be blamed if a terrorist outrage was committed for want of laws requested by the security services.
At the same time the government could do little to disguise the fact that it had had to concede to judges the power to impose control orders which Mr Clarke originally maintained was the proper responsibility of the home secretary on behalf of the executive - and that much of the opposition to the Bill was fuelled by continuing distrust of Mr Blair as a result of the Iraq war.
As the "blame game" continued at Westminster, meanwhile, Mr Clarke was awaiting royal assent for his Bill before making emergency arrangements, ahead of a hearing by a judge within seven days, to impose the first control orders on the 10 foreign terror suspects released from detention over the past two days.
Downing Street has confirmed that the new legislation will have a UK-wide application.