KENT’S Chief Constable Mike Fuller appealed to every one of the county’s MPs to support Government plans to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days, it has emerged.

Mr Fuller wrote to both Labour and Conservative MPs in a private letter to set out the case for extending the detention period last week.

It is understood the letter set out a range of concerns that anything less than 90 days could hamper the fight against terror. The Government was defeated on the issue on Wednesday.

But rebel Medway Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews said he was unhappy police chiefs had become involved in trying to rally support for the Government’s planned legislation. He was the only Kent Labour MP to vote against his government.

He said the police were being “used” to shore up Tony Blair’s populist stance.

“If you actually talk to people about whether they want these fundamental civil liberties to be eroded [by this legislation] they say 'no’. It was a classic populist strategy,” he said.

The defeat had left not just Mr Blair weakened. “He has lost his judgement and not just on this terror legislation. You cannot divorce a party from its leader and if he is losing credibility, the party is losing credibility.”

Meanwhile, Maidstone and Weald MP Ann Widdecombe criticised her own party for opposing the government plans, saying MPs had forgotten the death toll from the London bombings. She abstained in the 90-day vote and had wanted a compromise 60 day period to be considered but that did not happen.

“I think we were wrong and we will rue the day. Clearly there was some unease about the fact that 90 days was unscientific...but 28 days does not go far enough,” she said.

But Sittingbourne and Sheppey Labour MP Derek Wyatt backed the government, arguing that 28 days was not long enough to unencrpyt computer hard drives belonging to terrorist suspects.

He said: “We are citizens and citizens have rights too. Ever since 9/11, things have changed. The police want 90 days and we will look pretty silly if we cannot get into computer hard drives within 28 days. The public was with us on these plans.”