…it’s done. Victory:

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has told MPs that plans to extend terror detention to 42 days will be dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

It follows a heavy defeat for the government in the House of Lords, which threw out the plan by 309 votes to 118.

And the fall-back position to save a scrap of face?

Ms Smith said instead the measure would be in a separate piece of legislation to be brought to Parliament if needed.

Emergency legislation to be used when there’s an emergency, in other words. Which prompts the question: why wasn’t that Plan A instead of Plan B? You know, if this wasn’t a pig-headed and empty show of machismo and a land-grab for extraordinary powers to be abused later on down the line.