Defeat sparks leadership questions Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political Correspondent, BBC News website
Tony Blair reaction This was worse than Tony Blair must have feared.
In a vote on a key piece of legislation he not only lost his large majority but he was roundly and convincingly defeated - for the first time in eight years.
And, while he continues to claim this was not an issue of his leadership or authority, it has dealt him a serious personal blow and already led to a demand for his resignation from Tory leader Michael Howard.
Not even the support of Chancellor Gordon Brown succeeded in persuading his backbench rebels to fall into line behind the hugely-controversial proposal to detain terror suspects for 90 days without charge.
And not even another of his powerful and passionate performances during question time before the vote managed to save the prime minister.
In that speech he claimed he would rather lose and be right than win and be wrong.
It was a matter of doing the right thing, of giving the police and security services the power they wanted to stop another terrorist atrocity in Britain.
Go soon But lose he did, with MPs going on to back a 28 day period of detention, in the process rejecting even a 60 day fallback option.
The defeat is bound to lead to major new pressure on Mr Blair to hasten his departure and hand over to Gordon Brown, even though he may reject the Tory leader's resignation call.
And, while the prime minister is a fighter and - until now - a survivor, the fact he has already announced he will quit before the next election may make that pressure for him to go soon irresistible.
The defeat came after Mr Blair stunned Westminster MPs by suddenly abandoning plans to seek a cross-party consensus and instead launching a ferocious campaign in support of the 90 day option.
On that he appeared to be ignoring the advice of many in his party, including Home Secretary Charles Clarke who had throughout been suggesting he was open to a compromise and only changed tune at the last moment.
Chief police officers, who originally proposed the detention period, lobbied MPs for their case and ministers and Blair loyalists did everything to win over dissenters.
Concentrate minds Mr Blair attempted to shave off some Tory backbench votes by suggesting they were in the "wrong place" on the issue and had gone soft on terror.
There has been a suggestion that Mr Blair knew he was already facing serious revolts over his so-called "legacy" welfare reforms and decided to pick a knockdown fight on this issue instead, believing he had the support of the public.
It is also possible he hoped the black and white nature of the issue - in which he effectively suggested MPs were either with him and the police or against them - would concentrate minds.
And, had he won, he would have felt strengthened in his other reforms and his rebels weakened.
In the event there appeared to be a backlash at his tactics and rhetoric and what many saw as the attempt to paint them as soft on terror.
And at the end of the day, the prime minister failed. Not by a bit but comprehensively. His other reforms will now also face serious trouble.
Few are suggesting the prime minister is about to pack his bags, but few also doubt that things will never be the same again for the most successful election winner Labour has ever produced.
