GORDON BROWN'S government bowed to the inevitable last night and dropped its current proposal to permit the 42-day detention of some terror suspects after the measure suffered a crushing defeat in the House of Lords.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith signalled the government's retreat in an emergency Commons statement under cover of plans for new legislation retaining the 42-day proposal, seemingly to be introduced at a point when it might be deemed necessary by investigating authorities in some future emergency.
Mr Brown had otherwise faced a fresh and unwelcome challenge to his political authority after the House of Lords rejected his plan to allow the 42-day detention of terrorist suspects in some limited circumstances by a massive 191-vote margin.
As the prime minister and his aides considered the implications of the defeat, it had also become clear that Mr Brown could no longer count on the votes of the DUP's nine MPs to again force the controversial measure through the House of Commons.
After a debate that heard the controversial proposal described as "a shabby charade ... unworthy of a democratic process," peers rejected the key element of the Counter-Terrorism Bill by 309 votes to 118.
The issue on which Mr Brown previously staked his authority had inevitably been overshadowed by the global financial crisis. But the prime minister suddenly faced a dilemma in deciding whether to bring the proposal back to the Commons and, if necessary, to try to use the Parliament Act to over-rule the Lords and force the issue into law. Ms Smith resolved the dilemma within hours with a statement to MPs the Liberal Democrats branded "a humiliating retreat".
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said Mr Brown's "spin doctors" had prevented Ms Smith from "saying in straightforward terms" that she was "abandoning 42 days".
Mr Grieve also told the home secretary she "demeaned" herself by again claiming that those who had opposed the government were "weak" on terrorism. "I have to say to you how profoundly I object to that," he told her.
Ahead of last night's defeat, Commons leader Harriet Harman had insisted the Bill would return from the Lords to the Commons in "the normal way". But former attorney general Lord Goldsmith - who has led opposition to the 42-day provision alongside former lord chancellor Lord Falconer, former directors of public prosecutions and the former head of the security service, MI5 - had suggested ministers should retreat "with some sort of grace". Only the nine DUP votes saved Mr Brown from defeat in the Commons in June following a rebellion by 36 Labour MPs.
Opening yesterday's debate in the Lords, Lord Dear, a former West Midlands chief constable, told peers: "This attempt to appear tough on terrorism, I believe, is a shabby charade which is unworthy of a democratic process and we should reject it."