What did the PM say to convince Admiral West?

I am afraid we can't just leave it at that.

Admiral West told the BBC this morning:

I want to have absolute evidence that we actually need longer than 28 days. I want to be totally convinced because I am not going to go and push for something that actually affects the liberty of the individual unless there is a real necessity for it.

I still need to be fully convinced that we absolutely need more than 28 days and I also need to be convinced what is the best way of doing that.

Than at 9.30AM, after meeting with the Prime Minister for half an hour, he said this:

I personally, absolutely believe that within the next two or three years we will require more than that for one of those complex plots.

I am quite clear that the greater complexities of terrorist plots will mean that we will need the power to detain certain individuals for more than 28 days.

So what did the Prime Minister say in this meeting? I am genuinely interested, since I, too, am unconvinced about the need for an extension, while being prepared to be convinced.

I suspect, however, that West was told that his view was not compatible with remaining a member of the government. Brute force rather than persuasion.

And if so, that finally does it for me and the idea of extending beyond 28 days.

Comments

[Jeremy Poynton]

We all know Gordon brooks NO dissent. So no surprises her - just sadness that the West didn't have the guts to resign.

[SJH]

Perhaps if Mr Brown personally took over the questioning of terror suspects the maximum detention period could be reduced to less than an hour.

[David Moss]

THE MARKET IN CREDIBILITY

Brewer's Dictionay of Phrase and Fable:

QUOTE
To go west. Of persons, to die; of things, to be lost, rendered useless or unattainable, as, "My chance of promotion has gone west." The reference is to the setting sun, which "goes west", and then sinks or expires, or possibly TYBURN.

Tyburn. ...

Tyburn ticket. A certificate which ... was granted to prosecutors who had secured a capital conviction against a criminal, exempting them from all parish and ward offices within the parish in which the felony had been committed. This, with the privilege it conferred, might be sold once, and once only, and the Stamford Mercury for 27 March 1818 announced the sale of one for GBP280 ... as late as 1856 Mr Pratt of Bond Street claimed exemption from serving on an Old Bailey jury on the strength of the possession of a Tyburn Ticket and was successful.
UNQUOTE

1. You've got to take your hat off to capitalism. It can make a market in anything ...

2. ... except credibility. Dictum meum pactum.

That seems to be the tiny little thing that Tony Blair doesn't understand, nor Gordon Brown.

Nor, sadly, Admiral Lord West, who could have maintained military standards by coming out of his meeting with Gordon Brown this morning and resigning on the spot.

He might as well have done. Nothing he says now will be credible. Whatever benefits Gordon Brown hoped to gain by his inclusion in the government have now, irretrievably, gone west.

[Stuart]

I imagine it was something along the lines of "If you want to remain in your job for more than 28 days you'll support it". Pity, I was expecting to want to throw something at the radio when the Beeb trailed his interview this morning, but I thought he spoke extremely well: far better that you'd ever get from a professional politician. Oh well...

[Kevin Davis]

He says it was because he was a "simple sailor"....and this is the bloke in charge of security. Help!!!

[Simon Stephenson]

I have a certain amount of sympathy for top-of-the-tree figures like Lord West. They are expected to behave in a way that reflects the atmospheric level of intellect and ability that folklore has us believe caused them to be propelled to the top. Whereas in fact by far the most important driving force behind their preferment is their demonstration from an early age of an unshakeable willingness and desire to subordinate their personal feelings to aligning themselves with whatever it is that is currently in vogue with the establishment authority.

[Anthony Back]

We used to think that rising to the top of your profession was a sign of excellence. We now know that Brown-nosing is perhaps even more important.

[Neil McEvoy]

"Remember Admiral Byng"

[Doug]

Retaining a top job in the civil service requires only the capacity to give loud and uncritical support to the top dog's flavour of the month. Apparently Lord West is no stranger to the art of the grovel. A simple sailor doing the bidding of an even simpler prime minister is a pretty pathetic sight - it's now clear why the Iranians thought they could humiliate the British Navy with impunity.