Guardian 29/9/2001: "Straw takes swipe at liberals"

[Caspar Bowden]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,560194,00.html 
Straw takes swipe at liberals 

Surveillance 'watered down' 

Anne Perkins, political correspondent
Saturday September 29, 2001
The Guardian 

The former home secretary Jack Straw launched a bitter attack against
the civil liberties lobby yesterday, claiming that it had forced him to
water down plans to take new surveillance powers. 
"It wasn't big brother government. It was government trying to put in
place increased powers so we could preserve our democracy against this
new type of threat," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today. "Now people are
saying: 'Why are these terrorists here?' " 

Mr Straw, now foreign secretary, said plans in Britain and the United
States that would have allowed surveillance of encrypted email had been
dropped because of opposition. He also attacked the Today programme
itself as the "mouthpiece" for the opponents of change. 

As the Home Office prepares to introduce what have been described as
draconian new laws in the wake of the terrorist atrocities - likely to
include monitoring emails as well as identity cards - there is growing
anxiety about a backlash from civil liberty organisations and
commentators. 

David Blunkett, the home secretary, indicated yesterday that Britain's
complex extradition laws were to be overhauled, ending the procedure
that can allow a case to be the subject of seven or eight appeals. There
is also discussion within the Home Office about challenging some of the
rights asylum seekers can claim under the Geneva convention, which
obstruct the detention of asylum seekers suspected of links with
terrorism. 

"We have got to get in perspective what it was possible to do before
September 11 and what we can do after September 11 with its severe and
horrendous warning of what these people are prepared to do," Mr Blunkett
said. 

He promised a "jigsaw of measures" and added: "We will take all
necessary steps to secure our freedom from fear and from the threat to
life, and do it so that it protects and maintains liberties." 

Roger Bingham of Liberty said: "We do have very extensive powers of
detention, surveillance and deterrence. Rather than endlessly looking
for more powers, we should look at why the existing powers aren't
working properly. There has to be a balance between protecting the
citizen and maintaining freedom."