Party Games

Lord West of Spithead (Security Minister and a former head of the Royal Navy) contradicted Gordon Brown this week by stating that 'he still needs to be fully convinced that we absolutely need more than 28 days' of detention without charge for suspected terrorists.

As the government is trying to raise this to 56 days this statement was rapidly retracted and Lord West later said: 'Well, I haven't changed my position. I think being a simple sailor, not a politician, maybe I didn't choose my words well.'

How refreshing: a government minister who says what he thinks rather than what he has been told he should think.

I can't imagine he will last long.