Section one of the Human Rights Act of 1998 enshrines the single most important human right, the one that towers above all others, to be the right to life.
As a human right it is unquestionable, it is undeniable, it is unthinkable that any other human right could be considered its superior. It is life itself. It is the right to get the bus to work without being blown to pieces by a fanatic with a bomb in his rucksack. It is the right to work in a tall building without airliners being flown into it. It is the right to travel on a plane without a south-London drop-out sneaking explosive on board in the heel of his shoe. And although it is pure, it is right, it is just; it is for some reason beyond the comprehension of David Davis.
The IRA used to train their operatives to withstand British interrogation. They’d put the operative in a cellar, in solitary confinement, for days on end. Then they’d alternately beat him and befriend him. This training would go on for over a week and it existed with good purpose, since the IRA were always prepared to be caught.
The difference with today’s terrorist threat is that these fanatics don’t prepare to get caught, they prepare to die. They are so obsessed by the idea of their own martyrdom that when they suddenly find themselves under arrest, they are completely thrown, they are disorientated. Inshallah, the will of God, has deserted them. And this is the difference between these terrorists and the IRA: you’d hardly ever get information out of the IRA, whereas these chaps, they sing like canaries.
When they’re in that police cell, surrounded by four concrete walls and totally alone, and asking, ‘God, why have you deserted me?’ the only voice they hear is from the policeman saying, ‘Did they lie to you? Did they tell you you’d be a martyr? Did they set you up? Speak to me. I want to be your friend.’ For intelligence gathering, this interrogation is about as good as it gets, and no policeman has ever been more justified in milking it for all it’s worth. David Davis wants to take this away from the police, because he believes that human rights are being degraded. David Davis is a fool.
Now, I’m not going to pretend to be so stupid that I don’t realise that there was internal Labour party politics wrapped up in the 42 day vote – there was. I’m also not going to claim that I believe people should be banged up for 42 days without any evidence – I don’t. I don’t want to see the 42 day powers ever used, but I do want to see detained suspects threatened with it, if that threat works as an interrogation device. Because the problem with the interrogation that I described above is that it works well on the lowly fanatics, the followers, but the police really need information from the leaders. But they are less susceptible, stronger and more mentally able to put up with a few days in a police cell. But if the police are able to threaten them with 42 days in that cell, co-operation would more likely.
I think this is why David Davis is a fool and it’s a shame we aren’t able to demonstrate that. It has been decided that we will not contest the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. We’re not taking David Davis on. We’re avoiding any confrontations because we’re so shell-shocked from recent events.
As I said in my last posting to this website, it’s time for us to get angry. It’s time for us to stop being victims. I tried to put myself forward as the Labour candidate against David Davis, but I couldn’t even get people to answer the phone to me. These Tories we’re up against, they’ve got absolutely nothing of sense to say. So why are the wiping the floor with us at the moment?
Dan McCurry is a legal executive and a member of Tower Hamlets Labour party