The historical precedents are interesting.
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Following the execution of Louis XVI, William Pitt the Younger introduced a number of emergency measures including sedition laws and the suspension of habeas corpus. Fox opposed them, arguing that the terror in France did not pose a real threat and that Pitt and the king were using it to limit the freedom of the individual and Parliament. It was a power grab by the executive, exactly as we see happening today.
He told the Commons: 'All the true constitutional watchfulness of England was dead to the only real danger... we are come to the moment when the question is, whether we shall give to the king, that is the executive government, complete power over our thoughts.' Fox was defeated by 290-50 and lost subsequent votes, but he kept the flame of liberty alive while most of the political establishment were busy giving in to Pitt and their own hysteria.
That moment Fox talked about is with us again.
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