Civil Liberties in the UK

According to Sky News [link] there was an Al Qaeda plot to assassinate Tony Blair and his wife in public during Queen's the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002. The allegation is made in the memoirs of Sir John Stevens, recently retired chief of the Metropolitan Police.

The timing of these allegations is very apt for a government facing opposition to proposals to crack down on our civil liberties on the pretext of greater "homeland security". It is no secret of course that the gentleman making these allegations about a terrorist plot was given a life peerage on the day he retired from his job at the Met. [link] It is hard to imagine papers about any supposed threat being in the public domain so there is no way to show conclusively whether this is something that was genuinely considered to be a serious threat or whether it is another false alarm designed to bolster the public image of Tony Blair. Long range weapons which can hit the UK and can be deployed within 30 minutes, anyone? Downing Street, as expected, refuse to give any comment about the allegations.

The release of this information also comes in the wake of a speech from Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, which states that civil liberties in the UK will have to be "eroded" to protect the UK citizens from terrorists. [link]

Draw your own conclusions but it is surely food for thought.