John Craig claims that was indeed the case at last night's meting of the Parliamentary party
when Jacqui Smith went to Committee Room 14 of the House of Commons to address the Parliamentary Labour Party later, by all accounts she played a blinder, speaking softly and in measured tones.
She spoke of safeguards and moving in the direction of those MPs with concerns about the 42-day proposal. And, I'm told, she managed to persuade some rebels to back the Government.
"I'll vote for this through gritted teeth," one potential rebel apparently declared.
Andrew Grice over at the Indy blog thinks so
The Labour rebellion against plans to allow police to detain suspected terrorists for 42 days without charge appears to be fading tonight. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith won plaudits after offering more concessions to Labour MPs when she addressed their weekly meeting just now. She also warned them of the grave political conferences of defeating the Government. Smith said: "We have gone a million miles. Meet us on the way. Make no mistake. Defeat will have a political message." Afterwards, some potential rebels seemed to have been won over. Even some critics predicted that ministers would now win next week's crucial vote
This morning's Telegraph meanwhile quotes the former assistant chief of the Met Peter Clarke who says
the row over extending the detention time limit has been distorted by politicians.
In the strongest defence yet of the Government's plans, Mr Clarke warns that the current 28-day limit will "undoubtedly" soon become insufficient to gather enough evidence to charge a suspect in increasingly complex terrorist investigations.
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