Blair suffers embarrassing defeat on terror proposal

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered a major parliamentary blow in the British House of Commons yesterday when a government proposal to detain terrorist suspects for 90 days without charge was substantially defeated.

In supporting the proposal, Mr Blair virtually put his authority on the line but while he is personally wounded, this is not regarded as a resigning matter.

The vote against the 90 days was defeated by 323 to 290 with some 49 Labour MPs supported by the Tories and the Liberal Democrats. The DUP and the SDLP voted against the government.