Parliament has spoken and rightly so. Tony Blair failed to provide a convincing justification for his proposal to detain terrorism suspects for up to 90 days before charging them. His attempt to justify it by reference to police support for the measure did him no credit and has drawn senior police officers into the political arena.

It is only two years since the limit for detention of terrorist suspects without charge was raised from seven to 14 days. Nothing has happened since then that provides any rationale for raising it to 90 days. The July 7 bomb attacks in London shocked the nation, but would not have been prevented by such an extension - as Charles Clarke, home secretary, candidly confirmed.