PM Brown Offers New UK Security Measures

Britain’s New Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has had a busy couple of weeks, mostly because of the floods in the UK that are worse than anything since the floods of 1947. Nevertheless, he found time to come to the House of Commons on Wednesday and offer members his ideas on improving British security in the face of the on-going al-Qaeda et. al. threat. New Labour remains Old Authoritarian even under new management.

The facts regarding the threat are much as Mr. Brown put them. Since the Bush administration lost the World Trade Center, the UK has faced 15 attempted terrorist attacks, some 30 more plots known to authorities, and has 2,000 individuals being monitored. This journal agrees that the UK faces “a generation-long challenge to defeat al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist violence.” Hard to see any difference here with the fight against the IRA all those years, though – which didn’t require many of the powers the Brown government wants.

First is the power to detain someone for more than the current 28 days without charge. Mr. Brown thought it could double to 56 days, but he wasn’t setting any specific number out. Probably just as well he didn’t because Tony Blair got his backside kicked when he suggested a 90-day limit. This extension could be argued one way or the other were it not for another proposal that would change British law to allow questioning after a charge has been filed. If post-charge questioning is permitted, the limit should be lowered, not raised. It won’t interfere with police actions.

Creation of a special integrated border protection force, which he also proposed, is a good idea, and one wonders why Mr. Brown opposed it so vociferously when he was Chancellor. This will combine immigration service officers, Revenue and Customs personnel and UK Visas officials. That’s great, but there is no extra money proposed to deal with the reshuffle. Worse, his idea omits the Special Branch from participation, the very group in UK law enforcement that has training in terrorist-related matters.

And then, there is the National ID card so loved by the control freaks at New Labour. The argument the Brownies make is that such a card makes it much more difficult to acquire multiple identities, something terrorists need to do their “jobs.” One cannot help but recall that all four of the July 7 bombers were British citizens with properly issued documents. Maybe, Mr. Brown should go back and start with a more fundamental issue -- assessing the risk involved.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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