Liberty is one of the core principles which the entirety of our mainstream political opinion supposedly supports. It’s meant to be one of the core defining values of our modern, western, liberal society; a marked contrast to the junta of Burma, of the oppressive regime of Saudi Arabia. It’s one of the values we continue to hold out as being superior, and worthy of export (although some of us may have rather different ideas about the appropriate way to export it).
Why then does this government continue to destroy the ideal in an attempt to defend it? Can anyone explain to me the twisted logic that says in order to defend our western principles of civil liberty and freedom, we should curtail those very freedoms? Liberty is a central tenet of the system that would-be terrorists declare they want to destroy, yet isn’t this government doing a pretty good job of it for them?
Only today our Home Secretary (who sometimes seems a little more like a school matron) has announced that detention by terror needs to be extended, albeit the 90 day time period has now been abandoned. But why? The case has simply not been made. Yes, the police are asking for longer periods of detention without trial – but that doesn’t mean they should get them. We have one of the longest periods of detention without trial at the moment. What is it with our police force that means they need so long?
Liberty is a basic Conservative principle. It’s something historically we have been rather better at than any other party. Perhaps if we’re looking for a core message it wouldn’t be a bad place to start.