PM faces hostile Lords over terror laws

Gordon Brown today faced a showdown with the Lords over plans to allow police to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge.

Tony Blair's mentor and former Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, was reportedly understood to be joining the ranks of peers objecting to the proposal.

Lord Falconer, his successor as Lord Chancellor and Mr Blair's former flatmate, has already dismissed the 42-day limit as unnecessary.

Despite supporting Mr Blair's plans to extend the time period to 90 days, the peer opposes the 42-day plan arguing that prosecutors now have a lower for bringing charges so they do not need  more time. Lord Goldsmith, Attorney General in Mr Blair's administration, is also against the proposed extension, warning it would destroy 'fundamental values' in society.

The Prime Minister seemed to be heading for a constitutional clash with the Lords after appearing to win over sufficient MPs to get the measure through the Commons. Talks are still ongoing with rebel Labour MPs.

A hardcore of backbenchers are refusing to back the Government on the new anti-terror laws. But significant figures in Parliament, including Keith Vaz, chairman of the all-party home affairs select committee, said they had changed their mind after a powerful intervention by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

She was seen to have performed so well at a meeting on Monday that she is now even being talked about as a possible successor as prime minister. Mr Brown personally phoned rebels for support in a vote next week, which appeared to be fast becoming about avoiding another humiliation for the Prime Minister rather than on the key plank of the Counter Terrorism Bill.

Civil liberty campaigners and Sir Ken Macdonald, the director of public prosecutions, have rejected the 42-day limit.

Shadow home secretary David Davis dismissed the package as a 'deception' and several Labour MPs, including David Winnick and John Grogan, are vowing to vote against the Government. A number of potential rebels, though, are now believed to be preparing to abstain.

If MPs back the extension but the Lords oppose it, Mr Brown is likely to portray the battle as the Government standing up for the British people against the unelected Upper Chamber.