Two former Labour Party home secretaries, a security minister and a former "independent" reviewer of terrorism laws have called for the swift review of Britain's communications data bill, following the London killing of an off-duty soldier by two radical Islamists.
If I didn't believe these were the first reactions to a shocking crime, I would put the interventions of Jack Straw, Lord (John) Reid, Lord (Alan) West and Lord (Alex) Carlile down to cynical opportunism, because I'm afraid that is very much how it looked.
Give our guys the tools to fight terrorism on the streets, they say; "the proportionate tools," eagerly adds the former reviewer of terrorism laws, Lord Carlile. But not one of them bothered to produce the smallest evidence that the type of surveillance proposed in the "snoopers' charter" would have stopped the two suspects, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.