What Are the Hidden Dimensions to Parliamentary Scrutiny—The Ghosts in the Machine?

Abstract

This chapter looks in detail at the parliamentary scrutiny of the Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 that would have extended the period of pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects from the existing 28 days to 42 days. It takes an interpretive approach and argues that to understand parliamentary scrutiny, there needs to be a full comprehension of the traditions, beliefs and practices that each set of actors bring to the process. There also needs to be an understanding of how these traditions, beliefs and practices change—sometimes cumulatively—in response to dilemmas faced within parliamentary processes. It draws on both the author’s experience as the lead minister for the bill and interviews with over 50 participants in the broader workings of the Home Office at the time—MPs, ministers, civil servants, special advisers and other public officials—to create a novel, multidimensional narrative that reveals the hidden dimensions of scrutiny. It argues that there are hidden dimensions to parliamentary processes and that such ‘ghosts in the machine’ needed to be completely understood if the decisions and choices made in the face of dilemmas are to be understood. Further, that such ghosts were not simply sentiments but very real values that grounded the development of and changes to the core traditions, beliefs and practices that help explain the efficacy of scrutiny and how parliament works.