Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

Tomorrow, Members of Parliament will vote on the issue of 42-day detention. Whether Gordon Brown strings enough votes together to get the legislation passed or not, the Government’s political reputation has suffered badly because of it, and so has his. 

The legislation was designed as a political calculation to outflank the Conservatives and make the Prime Minister appear tough on security. Political self interest was at the core of the exercise. Yet it has now backfired. 

Faced with criticism from many quarters, and possible defeat, the Government has been offering potentially rebellious MPs concessions and compromises.  

Gordon Brown once had the reputation of being a master political strategist. That reputation is now in tatters as a new poll published today shows that Gordon Brown’s leadership standing has fallen dramatically. 

The electorate see the Prime Minister as a leader who has no big story to tell and is obsessed by short term gimmicks. Just look at the way he reacted to inheritance tax and the non-dom issue. It backfired royally. Extending pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects from 28 to 42 days is just another product of mere political calculation. It hasn’t worked. 

He may win tomorrow. But the central objective of trying to push the Conservatives into a corner has failed, and his moral authority has been yet again impaired.  

Surprisingly, MPs do not actually watch much television but many do watch programmes like Newsnight, Andrew Marr’s Sunday programme and Question Time. Radio 4’s Today Programme is compulsory listening in the mornings.

Because it is so widely viewed, I do try to watch the BBC six o’clock TV news from time to time, and did so on Thursday evening. The whole session was extraordinary. We started off with a long piece about an Englishman who is going on trial in the United States – for allegedly murdering his wife: pretty graphic stuff. Then we moved on to three Britons missing off the Bali coast whilst diving – happily all is well now and the subsequent story about toxic dragons was terrific . Then the third item was a tragic story of a young boy who had hanged himself because of the deaths of his mother and grandfather.

Now there were indeed all powerful and exceptional human interest stories. In presentational terms, however, it was the television equivalent of tabloid newspaper journalism.

This was on the same day, for example, when the news from Zimbabwe was really very grim indeed, yet it fell into fourth place.    

The BBC is entitled to put on popular viewing programmes, and it does. But surely, as a public service provider, the main evening news should be a serious exercise in prioritising what is really happening in the world we inhabit, whether here or abroad. After all, the BBC boasts a unique number of foreign correspondents, and they are of world-beating quality, as indeed are their commentators on the local political and economic scene.

The offer by Mr Obama, however conditional, to talk to the axis of evil countries is indeed something of a departure.  So change is in the air indeed.  What the Bush Administration introduced was a new concept in diplomacy, namely you simply do not talk to countries you dislike. This considerably delayed a settlement with North Korea: in the end the Americans were forced to accept Chinese advice, and the rest is history.  The US attitude to Iran has been stop-start over the years in varying degrees, and is still an open question.

One by-product of the British Administration’s world view is its exceptional dislike of Syria.  Indeed it has been reported that the US vetoed Israel engaging in a dialogue with Syria.  US sanctions are operating against Syria too, which has made them more dependent on Iranian largesse.

Yet there appears to have been some movement, inasmuch as the Turks have brokered talks, and these have received the formal encouragement of the Syrian President.  Apparently the Americans, perhaps finally listening to James Baker, have modified their position.

If Israel, and indeed the United States, regard Iran as a menace in the region, then their central strategy should be to limit or cut off its influence.  Syria and Iran have a close relationship, and that involves support for Hezbollah.  So at minimum, Israel should try to distance secular Syria from theocratic Iran.

There may now be an opportunity.  The Lebanese political situation looks more stable and a dialogue between Israel and Syria has begun. Nevertheless, history teaches us to be cautious about being in any way optimistic.

What is clear in Damascus, where at least we carry no historical baggage, there is a real desire for us to resume a considered and focussed role in the Middle East.  Also for us to reassert our more traditional partnership with the United States.  There should be some reward and recognition for Syria being burdened with 1.5 million Iraqis.  They have received no humanitarian assistance.

The Iraq invasion has seen the Christian communities of Iraq decimated and scattered.  At least in Syria, an adjunct of the so called axis of evil, they are protected and cared for.  It is the ironic by-product of this whole tragic episode. 

If it was not that he is known as a very partisan and very politically ungenerous individual, I might have had just a fleeting tinge of feeling sorry for Gordon Brown at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.

It was simply horrible, porkies and all. In contrast to Tony Blair, the present incumbent is wooden and flat-footed. Now out there Prime Minister’s Questions may seem unpleasant and irrelevant to some, but it is a tribal experience, and it impacts the morale of MPs very considerably. The wretched expressions of Labour MPs, most especially the Cabinet, was a sight to behold. Jack Straw and Geoff Hoon, the Chief Whip, looked shaken.

Pressure and tension affect people in different ways. Margaret Thatcher looked energised by the demands of her job. David Cameron seems to have exactly the same quality.

Gordon Brown, by contrast, looks as if he has undergone an extraordinarily rendition experience. Yesterday was obviously torture for him, and it showed.   

And the one sided bullfight is set to continue week by week.

Roads, like airports, provoke mixed emotions. A new road may destroy some precious green spaces. Yet congestion causes a negative environmental impact and is costly on time and stress. How also do you measure the cost of death and injury brought about by a dangerous road?

In West Suffolk, leading into Norfolk, is one of the most treacherous and congested roads in the country, the notorious A11. To dual it, and bypass the village of Elveden, would mean cutting through a man-made forest, with one landowner. By anybody’s standards, the planning and ecological impact is very low indeed.

For 30 years a plan has existed to resolve the problem of the A11. BBC2 actually put out a programme to illustrate dramatically its sheer awfulness. The incoming Labour government promised to act, and then just at the point we believed it would be built, it was moved to the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) to prioritise this project.

There is no point in revisiting what happened next. However, following a meeting with the Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, there is a greater sense of understanding between EERA and the Department of Transport.

There are important hoops to get through and over £100 million would need to be found. But at least EERA understands now that it unequivocally has to back the scheme if it is to be realised.

Charles Clarke and I are hosting a meeting today to bring together all the local and regional stakeholders, to get our ducks in a row.

This is not a party political issue. When people lose their lives on the A11, as scores have, nobody asks whether they vote Labour or Conservative.

I have such a sense of personal disappointment as the local MP that the A11 has not been dualled yet. It is a disgrace. I can only hope today that our meeting really does move the matter forward.  

This afternoon we are holding a Conservative Business Relations seminar looking at environmental strategy and UK business. It is going to be hugely well attended. 

Yesterday George Osborne spoke at a City lunch with leading members of the accountancy profession. 

In businesses of all sizes and sorts, there is now a desperation to get rid of this Government. It is the sheer incompetence on top of the burdens of regulations and taxation which is causing this. 

But there is also a much greater realism. Of course they realise that we are increasingly uncompetitive, and that businesses continue to look abroad for a better environment. However they now realise how tied any new government will be, how restrained by the terrible fiscal legacy of this Government. Unravelling this will not be easy, and it cannot be done overnight, but they now appreciate how much more difficult it has become to achieve quickly the lower tax environment they all want. 

Meanwhile we are listening very carefully to what they have to say. Their comments would not exactly please Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling who have jointly created this unhappy situation, and burdensome future legacy.