Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Brown's security agenda
By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website
Gordon Brown's Chatham House speech undoubtedly represented a significant strengthening of the government's campaign to combat international terrorism.
Brown set out a wide security vision
It was packed with initiatives, from freezing suspected terrorists assets to paying British soldiers more.
And the intention was simple - to send out the strongest possible message about the chancellor's resolve to take whatever steps are necessary to win that campaign.
He re-stated the need for Europe and America to work together in the fight. He put security at the heart of the government's comprehensive spending review. He set out plans for electronic border controls and he spoke of the need to win hearts and minds in a "generation-long" struggle against extremism.
He risked further opposition from some in his own party when he again backed ID cards, dismissed any suggestion he had not fully supported the war on Iraq and signalled he would back fresh moves to give police the power to hold suspects for longer than 28 days.
In traditional Gordon Brown-style, much of it was not new but had been well trailed before, although there was enough to give some real weight to the prime ministerial stall he was undoubtedly setting out.
Queen's speech
His speech was inevitably seen as more than simply a chancellor spelling out the Treasury's role in combating the terrorist threat.
Mr Brown strayed well beyond his Treasury brief by, in effect, setting out his wider vision for the way the government should tackle terrorism, strengthen the nation's security and engage in the battle of ideas with Muslim extremists (although he carefully avoided stating a position on the debate over veil-wearing).
Brown and Blair agree on security agenda
His words gave a glimpse not only of what a Gordon Brown administration might look like, but a hint of what may be the central core of the looming Queen's speech setting out the government's programme for the next political session.
With the prime minister on the way out of Downing Street, this was always going to be a hugely difficult speech with MPs eager to determine whether it amounted to a Blair programme, a Brown programme or a fudged programme.
It now looks like it may well get around the problem by being, essentially, a joint Blair-Brown production with security and the battle against terrorism at its core.
But it was that glimpse of what a Brown Britain may look like that will probably attract the greatest analysis.
And it appears it will be a highly security-conscious, tightly-policed and, Mr Brown believes, secure Britain.
That will undoubtedly be seen as a reassuring message, although the chancellor may have a battle on his hands persuading some in his own party that this can all be done without unacceptable infringements of civil liberties.
And it is quite likely that this will be the big signal coming from Nos 10 and 11 Downing Street between now and the prime minister's eventual departure. It is, after all, a programme the two houses appear genuinely united on.
It is also likely that, hard-core critics aside, it will widely be seen as a further underpinning of the chancellor's claim on the Labour leadership.
source - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6036947.stm
