His dhimmi religious hatred law was narrowly defeated, and now Blair is feeling the heat. From AFP:
LONDON (AFP) – Prime Minister Tony Blair faced fresh questions about his authority after his government suffered a shock double defeat over a key part of new legislation to combat religious hatred.
The Conservatives on Wednesday asked what confidence the country could still have in Blair carrying through his agenda while he tacitly accepted responsibility for the defeats.
Blair did not take part in the second of two votes on amending the bill — which the government then lost by just one vote due to a sizeable revolt amongst Labour backbenchers, adding to his embarrassment….
Asked on BBC radio if the prime minister’s no-show at the vote made it personally embarrassing, [Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain] replied: “Well, yes, maybe.”
“But if you look at what we were trying to do, this is very controversial legislation. We are in a situation where Muslims don’t have the protection that, for example, Jews and black citizens do and there remains an anomaly.”…
Really? What expansionist globalist supremacist totalitarian ideology is being forwarded worldwide by Jews or blacks? Until Muslims distance themselves from that ideology, so that it is absolutely clear who among them holds to it and who does not and will not, it is not only unreasonable, but suicidal, for Western governments to place them above criticism and scrutiny.
The House of Lords deserves the credit:
It notably put in an amendment restricting the new offence of inciting religious hatred to threatening words and behaviour, rather than a wider definition also covering insults and abuse.
The Lords also required the offence to be intentional, and specified that criticism, insult, abuse and ridicule of religion, belief or religious practice would not be an offence.
Freedom of speech still lives in Britain. For now.