We've already heard that Brown won't be scrapping ID Cards after all. He's known to support extending the period of questioning by the police of terror suspects to 90 days (that's three months internment without charge). The BBC reports Brown speaking yesterday in Glasgow where he said:
| "Because we are a country that believes in civil liberties of the individual, every time you have to strengthen the security measures that are necessary to protect our country, you also have to strengthen the accountability to parliament and the independent oversight of what police and other authorities are doing." |
This is clever stuff, very different to Blair's "trust me" approach. And just as dangerous.
First, Brown starts by paying lip service to the thing he's attacking - civil liberties of the individual. Then he loads a long, rambling sentence with phrases like "you have to", "are necessary" and "to protect". These are embedded. They're not part of the main argument but are taken as given - thus avoiding debate on them. It's classic sales/NLP/hypnosis technique.
Then there's the thrust of the point: That removing our civil liberties is somehow justified if it's accompanied by accountability.
It's not. Our liberties aren't removed at the moment we're wrongly arrested. Our liberties aren't removed at the moment when some judge looks at our situation.
Our liberties are removed at the moment authoritarian laws are passed.
The vast majority of us will never suffer under these laws, will never be victims of wrongful suspicion, will never be locked up for three months without charge. Yet we might. That's the danger - authoritarian laws could affect any one of us and hence erode the freedom of us all.
Yes, oversight and accountability are necessary when giving the state powers over the individual. That doesn't mean that - as Brown implies - they are sufficient.
civil liberties Gordon Brown UK politics ukpolitics
Labels: civil liberties, Gordon Brown
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