THE DUP's nine MPs helped British prime minister Gordon Brown survive a Labour rebellion to win last night's critical Commons vote on detaining terror suspects in "grave and exceptional" circumstances for 42 days without charge. FRANK MILLAR, London Editor reports
The result - 315 to 306, a bare government majority of just nine votes - offered a much-needed respite for the troubled Labour leader after a series of election disasters and with opinion polls showing his personal ratings in freefall.
However, Dame Helena Kennedy QC warned Mr Brown that this would prove "a bit of a Pyrrhic victory" as she predicted the House of Lords would now give the controversial measure "a very hard going-over".
Echoing Conservative predictions of a government defeat in the Lords, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg had earlier warned Mr Brown that "this proposal will not become law", while suggesting that it would inevitably be overturned by the courts if it did.
Mr Clegg last night led the questioning about "the cost" to Mr Brown of his dependence on DUP votes to avoid the defeat that otherwise awaited him at the hands of 36 Labour rebels who resisted all threats and bribes to vote in the Opposition lobby.
Describing the outcome as "a victory for pork-barrel politics", Mr Clegg said he would be "distressed to hear of side deals" after home secretary Jacqui Smith and the DUP had formally denied any deal on "separate issues".
The speculation at Westminster was immediately focused on reports of a possible £200 million package to help offset the impact of new water charges in Northern Ireland.
Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson claimed that there was "no deal" tied to last night's vote, insisting the party had finally been persuaded on the merit of the government's case and "voted on a matter of principle".
However, Mr Donaldson also acknowledged there were "a whole range of issues" on which the DUP would "continue to press" the government.
A DUP source speaking off the record added: "These are things for another day, with a grateful government hopefully." Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis maintained the government had "lost the argument" over 42-day detention amid reports of government efforts to defuse the Labour rebellion with offers and concessions on everything from safe seats and knighthoods to help for miners and a review of government policy on sanctions against Cuba.
"Mr Brown cannot be proud of today," ventured Mr Davis, who described the DUP decision to back the government as extraordinary.
"It is an extraordinary outcome but that is for them to answer," he said, adding that "they looked very uncomfortable" in the Commons chamber.
Mr Davis had started the day on the BBC's Todayprogramme conceding that the government was likely to win the vote.
But Tory MPs gasped in astonishment and pointed accusing fingers at the DUP bench when they heard that the government's majority matched the DUP's exact parliamentary strength.
Veteran left-winger and former Labour minister Tony Benn described it as "a classic example of selling your birthright for a mess of potage" and said the outcome was "a sad day for British justice".