Brown enters the final hours of his battle to win vote on 42 days

Gordon Brown is struggling to head off a Commons defeat tonight over his plans to allow police to detain suspected terrorists for up to 42 days without charge.

The Prime Minister took personal charge of the last-minute arm-twisting in a desperate attempt to avert a defeat that would trigger a crisis of confidence in his leadership. With more than 40 Labour backbenchers threatening to vote against the Government, one close Brown ally claimed it was "looking grim".

Mr Brown's fate could lay in the hands of about 10 wavering Labour MPs, who oppose 42-day detention but may pull back from voting against it because defeat would inflict further damage on the party's standing with voters.