With his triumphal entry to No 10 greeted by a series of attempted car bombings, Gordon Brown won praise last month for resisting any knee-jerk reaction to the latest manifestation of terrorist threats in the UK. On Wednesday, “consensus” and “consultation” peppered the statement to parliament in which he unveiled a panoply of anti-terrorist weapons, ranging from a single border force, strongly backed by the opposition Conservatives, to allowing post-charge questioning and use of wiretap evidence in court.

Yet in seeking to double the period for which terrorist suspects can be held without charge, less than two years after parliament voted down former prime minister Tony Blair’s request for a 90-day limit, Mr Brown is inviting division.